News Releases

Greater collaboration with Foreign Affairs Ministry and UWI International Relations Institute

For Release Upon Receipt - February 15, 2013

St. Augustine


ST. AUGUSTINE, Trinidad and Tobago – Newly appointed Director of the Institute of International Relations (IIR) at The University of the West Indies (UWI) St. Augustine, Professor Andy Knight, recently paid a courtesy call on Foreign Affairs Minister, the Hon Winston Dookeran to discuss ways in which the relationship between his Ministry and the IIR can be enhanced to the mutual benefit of both organization and foreign policy initiatives of our country. Also present were the Ministry’s Permanent Secretary, Margaret Parillon, TT’s UN Ambassador Rodney Charles and Dr Johann Geiser of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Among the matters discussed were the establishment of mechanisms where talents resident in the Institute’s world of academia and the Ministry’s practical world of diplomacy can be synergised to enhance our foreign policy objectives. In this regard, Minister Dookeran and Professor Knight explored the possibility of producing a world class peer-reviewed Journal, blending practitioner and scholarly contributions, which will analyse various foreign policy issues and provide options for our policy makers. They also discussed a possible Caribbean convergence initiative; a CARICOM perspective on the Palestine issue; the development of a more proactive and high profiled local foreign policy in which our country can play a leadership role; foreign policy options in Latin America and the development of a “value for money” foreign policy more rooted in trade and investments opportunities and linked to our diaspora.   They also explored the possibility of hosting internships at the UN and other multilateral agencies for top students at the Institute; exposing students at UWI and other tertiary institutions to job opportunities in the global arena; and visits to the Institute by visiting dignitaries which will allow students to engage global diplomats on the issues of the day.

The Ministry and the Institute will work together in the pursuit of a more comprehensive foreign policy initiative but also will engage the society more frontally on issues which affect us like climate change, the arms trade treaty, global finance, counter terrorism, the drug trade, maritime boundary challenges and enhancing trade and investment opportunities.

Professor W. Andy Knight, an internationally renowned scholar of global governance was appointed as head of the IIR, on secondment from the University of Alberta, effective January 1 2013 for a period of three years.  

End

About UWI

Over the last six decades, The University of the West Indies (UWI) has evolved from a fledgling college in Jamaica with 33 students to a full-fledged University with over 40,000 students. Today, UWI is the largest and most longstanding higher education provider in the English-speaking Caribbean, with main campuses in Barbados, Jamaica and Trinidad and Tobago, and Centres in Anguilla, Antigua & Barbuda, The Bahamas, Belize, Bermuda, British Virgin Islands, Cayman Islands, Dominica, Grenada, Montserrat, St Christopher (St Kitts) & Nevis, St Lucia, and St Vincent & the Grenadines. UWI recently launched its Open Campus, a virtual campus with 45 physical site locations across the region, serving 16 countries in the English-speaking Caribbean. UWI is an international university with faculty and students from over 40 countries and collaborative links with over 60 universities around the world. Through its seven Faculties, UWI offers undergraduate and postgraduate degree options in Engineering, Humanities & Education, Law, Medical Sciences, Science & Technology, Food & Agriculture, and Social Sciences.

 

(Please note that the proper name of the university is The University of the West Indies, inclusive of the “The”, hence The UWI.)

 

 

Contact