I have never been someone afraid of speaking in public, but I must admit that I was nervous about conducting a one-to-one interview with the Honourable Dr Keith Rowley, the Prime Minister of Trinidad & Tobago, in front of more than seven hundred delegates and the entire nation via TV and the wide world via the livestream.  

Telling Dr Rowley that I was feeling nervous, and having him respond that he was feeling the same, really put me at my ease and I think we had a great conversation.  It was good to hear him talking candidly about some of the short-term challenges that we continue to face, but to also hear the commitment to addressing the situation and the great opportunities that Trinidad & Tobago has in the medium-term.  There was a sense of optimism at this year’s Energy Conference, based on some significant progress over the past year, and more importantly a strong sense of collaboration between the industry and the Government. 

That word “collaboration” was one that came up time after time across the two days of the conference.  It means that there is plenty of work for the Energy Chamber to do over the next weeks and months, because our role is so often to try to foster that collaboration between different stakeholders.   I look forward to reporting on how we are getting along with all of those tasks at our next major event – the Caribbean Sustainable Energy Conference on 10-11th June 2024.

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