August 27, 2021, Balmain, Couva: The Sport Company of Trinidad and Tobago (SporTT) welcomed Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago to the Kingdom of Belgium, His Excellency Colin Connelly to its Couva facilities for a tour of the National Cycling Velodrome and Aquatic Centre and talks of partnerships and other opportunities.

His Excellency’s visit comes weeks before SporTT officials are due to attend the Union Cycliste Internationale (*UCI) Congress and visit its headquarters and the World Cycling Center to meet with key officials from UCI and regional Presidents of cycling associations such as Caribbean Cycling Federation (CCF) and Pan American Cycling Federation (COPACI). They are also expected to meet with *FINA executives with the intention of finalizing Phase 1 of the certification process of the National Aquatic Centre.They are also expected to meet with *FINA and the overall mission will be to explore opportunities to create further partnerships. The planned visit is part of the thrust of SporTT to create and engage in meaningful partnerships towards certification for the National Facilities as Development Centres.

The planned mission will be used to solidify the arrangements and demonstrate the intention of T&T to complete the certification exercise in partnership with the International Federations. With sport tourism being another Government mandate, SporTT officials will also be collaborating with the Embassy to coordinate meetings with sport tourism stakeholders in an exercise to generate leads and market Trinidad & Tobago as a destination for their sport training and participation.

The partnership between SporTT and the TT Embassy of Belgium will create synergies that will allow for these activities to be scheduled and executed with greater efficiency with the goal of achieving the stated outcomes.

SporTT CEO, Jason Williams noted that, “partnerships are taken very seriously by the Sport Company, and we see an increase in accreditation and engagement along with building independence and creating value as a major pillar in raising visibility and marketing what we do. This visit is one of the many steps we have and continue to take towards that objective.”

His Excellency Ambassador Connelly urged SporTT to work with the Foreign Affairs Ministry to create more selling points internationally for the national facilities. He says, “a key selling point would be showing that this would not just be for the benefit of Trinidad and Tobago but also for the Caribbean on the whole, thereby an investment in our national facilities will be an investment in the region.”

Ambassador Connelly extended the best wishes of the Foreign Affairs ministry to SporTT with the hope that this activity can be continued with other embassies towards the creation of a proper pipeline of communication and developmental excellence.

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*FINA – Fédération Internationale De Natation – FINA is the international federation recognised by the International Olympic Committee for administering international competitions in water sports.

*UCI – The Union Cycliste Internationale is the world governing body for sports cycling and oversees international competitive cycling events.