The upcoming 12th Conference of Defence Ministers of the Americas, which will be held in T&T in October, will be used to discuss terrorism and terrorist threats related to Isis, the trafficking of arms and ammunition, drugs and human trafficking.
All discussions will, however, take place in “side bar meetings,” T&T’s National Security Minister Edmund Dillon said yesterday during the media briefing about the three-day conference.
The budget for the conference, where an unprecedented number of Ministers of Defence and delegates from the 34 nation states representing the Americas will be attending, is estimated to be at $9 million, but the majority of costs will be covered by corporate sponsors.
He said they will be holding meetings on the issue of terrorism and terrorists within “our security landscape” and they will be looking at sharing information and intelligence gathering.
“The sidebar meetings will also deal with how do we treat with the inflow of arms ammunition, drugs and human trafficking. The conference allows us to do that type of networking. Also, the trading of experiences and best practices,” Dillon said.
He said there are three topics the meeting will be addressing: Security and Defence of the Americas in a Changing International Environment: The Evolving Role of the armed Forces, Environmental Protection and Resilience; and Hemispheric Security and Defense Cooperation Policy: Beginning with Strengthened Humanitarian Emergency Assistance.
Cop asked to do overtime
Questioned by the media about claims that the Central Division was understaffed and under-resourced at the same press conference, acting Police Commissioner, Harold Phillip, said he had full confidence in the operational activities of the Defence Force and police.
“I am not aware that the police in Central is understaffed and/or underresourced. We have added resources to the Central Division, in particular in the Enterprise area, over the last period and there has been a reduction in terms of criminal incidents,” Phillip said.
He said a request was also made for police officers to give extra hours of work and promised that they will be paid overtime.
Dillon, in weighing in on the topic, gave the assurance that right now they were treating with the issues of crime and criminality and areas are still safe and secure.
“The agencies of the State will continue to be outside there on the streets doing their investigations and operations and again we present a secure environment for T&T citizens,” Dillon said.