TRINIDAD AND TOBAGO, April 21 - Prime Minister Dr the Hon. Keith Rowley is calling for greater cooperation between American and Caribbean Banks.

Dr Rowley made the call while speaking at the opening of the Roundtable Discussion on De-Risking and Correspondent Banking held at the Lloyd Erskine Sandiford Centre in Bridgetown, Barbados today (Wednesday 20th April, 2022).

The Prime Minister said, "We believe that there is great progress to be made from doing business with us and the facts will support that not the fiction, not the discrimination, not the disrespect. It is possible that Caribbean banks can become and we must become an integral part of the American banking system and by extension the world global banking system.”

The event is being co-chaired by the Prime Minister of Barbados, the Hon. Mia Mottley and Congresswoman Maxine Waters (D-CA), Chairwoman of the US House Committee on Financial Services.

The Roundtable Discussion on De-Risking and Correspondent Banking follows a number of engagements between CARICOM and Congresswoman Maxine Waters on the matter since 2019.

Prime Minister Rowley met with Congresswoman Waters during a visit to Washington D.C. in 2019 and held a meeting with her in March 2021, during Trinidad and Tobago’s Chairmanship of the Conference of Heads of Government of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM). Both of these meetings focused on the issue of de-risking and correspondent banking.

Chairwoman Waters is being accompanied by U.S. Representative for Ohio's 3rd Congressional District, Congresswoman Joyce Beatty, U.S. Representative for Colorado, 7th Congressional District, Congressman Ed Perlmutter, U.S. Representative for U.S. Virgin Islands, At-Large, Congresswoman Stacey Plaskett, U.S. Representative for Texas, 29th Congressional District, Congresswoman Sylvia Garcia and U.S. Representative for Louisiana, 2nd Congressional District, Congressman Troy A. Carter.

Other CARICOM Heads of Government in attendance include the Prime Minister of Belize, the Hon. Juan Antonio “Johny” Briceño, the Premiere of Cayman Islands, the Hon. Wayne Panton, Prime Minister of Dominica, the Hon.  Roosevelt Skerrit, Prime Minister of Grenada, the Hon. Keith Mitchell, Prime Minister of Guyana, the Hon Mark Phillips, Prime Minister of Saint Lucia, the Hon Phillip Pierre and the President of Suriname, His Excellency Chan Santokhi.