National Security Minister Fitzgerald Hinds and US Ambassador Candace Bond met with officials from the US Agency for International Development (USAID) and UNDP on May 5.

The meeting took place at the Ministry of National Security on Abercromby Street, Port of Spain.

The meeting served to introduce the Strategic Trafficking in Persons (TIP) adviser Antoinette Lucas-Andrews. The engagement of the adviser is part of a multi-country capacity-building initiative known as CariSecure 2.0.

This programme, a release said, equips national institutions and agencies with the technology, equipment, and training to better collect and analyse crime data, in order to create evidence-informed approaches to reducing crime. CariSecure 2.0 is being funded by USAID and implemented by the UNDP.

The Strategic TIP adviser will work closely with the Ministry of National Security, specifically the Counter Trafficking Unit. This is to prioritise activities of the national action plan for combating trafficking in persons and provide guidance to the Counter Trafficking Unit to improve Trinidad and Tobago’s annual US Department of State (USDOS) Trafficking in Persons Report ranking.

Hinds welcomed the expertise Lucas-Andrews brings to the counter-trafficking platforms and extended his gratitude to the embassy, USAID and the UNDP for their continued support in the areas of national security, particularly the national response to trafficking in persons.

Also present at the meeting were UNDP assistant, corporate communications unit, Sharifa Ali-Abdullah; USAID Bridgetown programme director Stephanie Mikulasek and other officials from USAID and UNDP; Deputy Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of National Security Michelle Thomas; and deputy director of the International Affairs Unit at the Ministry of National Security Maj Richard Lynch.

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