TT’s failure to pass anti-terror laws will affect investment

UNITED STATES Ambassador Roy Austin yesterday said criminals and terrorist organisations are seeking out countries “of opportunity” where laws are lacking or weak and existing laws are poorly enforced. He noted Trinidad and Tobago’s tardiness in implementing anti-terrorism legislation and recommendations to combat terrorist financing and money laundering and warned that it would affect businessmen looking for a safe place to invest. “Terrorists and other criminals have made extensive use of global financial networks to finance their activities”, Austin said as he spoke at a conference of the Employers’ Consultative Association on International Crime and Terrorism: Implications for Business and Caribbean Economies at Trinidad Hilton yesterday.

Austin said the most obvious deterrent to international crime is to strengthen law enforcement and Judicial systems. He said Trinidad and Tobago has not implemented the eight recommendations of the Financial Task Force, a 29-nation group of experts dedicated to establishing legal, regulatory standards and policies to fight money laundering. He said the recommendations, intended to deny terrorists assets to the world should be implemented by all governments. He cited the work of the Caribbean Action Task Force in halting terrorist financing.

“This effort has yielded encouraging results by end of 2002 more than 166 countries had issued orders freezing over $121 million in terrorist assets.” Austin said virtually all countries in the Lesser Antilles have passed anti-terrorism legislation but Trinidad and Tobago and St Lucia are yet to do so. He said the prospects for economic growth and foreign investment in the Caribbean will depend on how the region responds to international crime and terrorism. Just as travellers are avoiding air travel to countries which they perceive as targets for terrorism investors will also avoid doing business in a country or region “where they perceive it as being unsafe”.

Austin said US investors are carefully examining how the Caribbean is responding to international crime and terrorism. The Economic Section of the US Embassy frequently receives calls from US investors expressing concerns about the threat or terrorism, capability of local law enforcement, strength of the legal framework and safety of their investments. Austin said while much of combating crime and terrorism will be the job of government agencies, private industry and organised labour have a critical role to play by giving support and their ideas. “The private sector is important because this sector will be the target of global terrorism and international crime,” he said. Austin said those who fail to adapt to the new realities will be vulnerable to attack and lose business to competitors who are better prepared by offering a safe environment.