Trinidad and Tobago

Political relations

Bilateral agreements

• 18 April 1978: Economic and technical cooperation agreement
• 5 August 1987: Agreement on double taxation and prevention of income tax evasion
• 28 October 1993: Reciprocal Investment Promotion and Protection Agreement (IPPA, entry into force in April 1996)

Economic relations

We have a large trade deficit with Trinidad and Tobago, although the volume of our trade remains limited (we are the country’s 17th-largest supplier, with market share of 1.2%). A large share of this trade involves Martinique, Guadeloupe and French Guiana, which represented 52% of our total exports and 23% of purchases in 2014. In 2016, our total exports stood at €30 million and our imports at €180 million.

French products exported to Trinidad and Tobago mainly consist of distilled alcoholic beverages, the volume of which rose slightly in 2018 ( +3.2% to €5.7 million); vehicle body parts; trailers and semi-trailers, demand for which greatly increased (+133.3% to €3.8 million) and which are now the second-most exported product, up from fourth place in 2017.

Despite a 21.4% drop, imports of Trinidadian products remain high at a value of €209 million. Basic organic chemicals remain the most-imported product (€84 million), followed by refined petroleum products (second-most imported item, despite another decrease (6.5%, down to €59 million).

Large French corporations Bouygues (major public and private buildings) and Vinci (road junctions and the capital’s bypass) have a long-standing presence, although Vinci has pulled out of the country since 2016 as the projects it relied on failed to come to fruition. Bouygues has fulfilled two major contracts in Trinidad and Tobago, one for the development of the capital’s sea front and another for the construction of a 26-floor office tower. Air Liquide is building a natural gas liquefaction plant. Other major groups present include Schlumberger, Perenco and ATR. The net flow of French foreign direct investments into the country was estimated at €91 million by the Bank of France in 2015.

There are two main obstacles encountered by French companies that wish to develop in Trinidad and Tobago: firstly, financing is difficult and even impossible to obtain because the country is not eligible for official development assistance (Development Assistance Committee list) and the potential financing solutions identified can be subject to significant restrictions due to current regulations in the countries listed (NCCT, OECD, AML/CFT, etc.) and secondly, French businesses increasingly encounter growing Chinese competition, which is particularly the case in the building and civil engineering sector.