News: India, Trinidad and Tobago sign bilateral trade agreement

(PTI 13/03/2007) New Delhi - India and Trinidad and Tobago today signed the Bilateral Investment Promotion and Protection Agreement (BIPPA) aimed at enhancing investment and technology flows between the two countries.

The agreement was signed by Commerce and Industry Minister Kamal Nath and Minister of Trade and Industry of Trinidad and Tobago Kenneth Valley.

The Agreement aims to enhance bilateral investment and technology flows between India and Trinidad and Tobago by creating favourable conditions for investors, an official statement said.

These include a mutually acceptable definition of investment and IPR, besides National Treatment and Most Favoured Nation Treatment, protection against expropriation and full reparability of investment and returns.

The Agreement also provides elaborate dispute resolution mechanism, including negotiations, conciliation, domestic and international arbitration, to settle disputes between an investor and the host government or between the two governments.

Applicable for a period of 10 years, the agreement would thereafter be deemed to have been automatically extended unless either country gives a written notice to the other of its intention to terminate it, it said.

Meanwhile, Trinidad and Tobago Manufacturers Association and the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) today signed a Memorandum of Understanding for co-operation between the two industry bodies for promoting, exploring and facilitating any possibility of manufacturing joint ventures.