Interview with The Honorable Farley Chavez Augustine, Chief Secretary

25 Feb Interview with The Honorable Farley Chavez Augustine, Chief Secretary

This December marks three years since you assumed the role of Chief Secretary of Tobago. Could you please reflect on your administration’s key achievements and challenges during this time and what are the main priorities as you move forward?

We have built a government creating the greatest little island on the planet and that’s our ethos. We recognize that at 116 square miles, we are a very small island state. We also recognize that with a population at our last census just around 69,000, that’s a very small population size but we have been saying to our people that it is very possible to exist on a very small island yet become the greatest of the little islands that exist around the world. We are doing that in tandem with the sustainable development goals of the UN. In particular, our achievements are in the areas of education and ensuring that there is high quality of education for people. We are meeting our targets in so far as levels of tertiary education, levels of literacy, primary and secondary schooling, with the fact that we do provide free education from kindergarten, from nursery and we provide subsidies for them at tertiary level for them to study.

We also recognize the quality of our healthcare. For a small island, we have two public hospitals that operate 24/7. We have health centers that exist in almost every village community on the island. We also look at the issue of public recreation and entertainment and family development and so we have community centers also existing in almost every community village around the island as an achievement. We have playing fields and sporting facilities scattered all around the island.

We also are looking to diversify the island’s economy. But even while doing that, we realize that Tobago’s natural competitive advantage lies in tourism, because of our green and blue assets and because of our orange assets. We have made considerable investments for the orange economy including in the performing arts, dramatists, songwriters and dancers. We have on the island, the largest performance space in the region, maybe in all Latin America and the Caribbean. We have a performance space that can house up to 7000 individuals.

As we build out this greatest little island on the planet, we are mindful that the Tobago House of Assembly  (THA) is only 44 years old and before that, for a while, we were just pegged to Trinidad and we did not enjoy devolved responsibilities and autonomy in the way a state would. All these achievements are not just necessarily my achievements or my government’s achievements, but achievements over the 44 years of the THA. I believe that Tobago is the ideal place for us to invest, an ideal location for us to be able to bring foreign investors to the country and we have many benefits for potential investors that we will love to provide some support.

What are those benefits you can provide to investors?

Here in Tobago, one can enjoy very low energy costs. If your investment lies within some designated areas, such as the Cove Eco-Industrial Park, you will get subsidies in terms of tax rebates. You also benefit from doing business with a government that is the largest landowner on the island. You can also do business in an area that is strategically located south of the Caribbean, outside of the hurricane belt, with very close proximity to South America and Central American territories, in particular Panama, with neighbors including the Dutch ABC islands. Our sustainability factors are critical. The fact that we tend to fare well during the hurricane season is also very critical. That, in itself, provides a world of opportunities to foreign investors.

Last August, a delegation from Tobago, visited New York to promote the island. What were the main outcomes of this visit and how do you see future efforts to raise Tobago’s profile in the US market?

Recently, we went to New York and we did an engagement through our diaspora community. Tobago is one of those Caribbean islands where more of our citizens live off the island than on the island. It’s important for us to communicate and stay in contact with our diaspora community because, among our diaspora, we have captains of industries and we have a wealth of knowledge and expertise that can be shared with residents back home.

Through that visit in New York, we were able to sit down with persons in technology, security technologies in particular, because we recognize that the country of Trinidad and Tobago and much of the Caribbean has a security challenge, given that the region is an important transshipment point for illegal drugs and guns heading north to United States in particular and also to Europe. We find ourselves in the middle of this major illegal global trade. We met with security technologies companies in that field because we want to see how we can create, for Tobago, a smart city that will help us to manage security outputs.

We also met with potential hotel developers from the US. We met with distributors, because we have wonderful agro-processed goods, goods that are created in a very organic manner. These goods provide an opportunity to tap into supermarket shelves in the US with items such as gluten-free flour made from products such as dasheen or cassava, or superfoods like breadfruit. We have that so easily and so cheap here, but I go into food stores or supermarkets in the US and the cost is extremely high. We met potential distributors and told them we produce these things cheaply and that they can potentially get those products from us but at a much cheaper price than producing them there in the US because those products grow naturally in our environment: the dasheens, cassavas, breadfruits, or sweet potatoes.

We also met with members of our diaspora, looking at those who are interested in returning home to live and work and those interested in investing. A significant portion of our diaspora exists in the tri-State area in the United States as well as Miami and Toronto. We are working with airlines like Caribbean Airlines to increase direct flights to Tobago. We have direct flights from New York to Tobago and we want to add Miami and Toronto too. Having direct flights means that for business and for leisure one can connect.

What are your expectations for the new airport? When is it going to be opened and what are your aims?

The new airport is aimed to be opened between March and May 2025. It will be significantly larger than the current one. Currently, we are putting the whole infrastructure that will allow for better connectivity to and from the airport. We are looking for businesses surrounding the airport and giving those an upgrade. We want to get a lot of international flights landing in Tobago. We are pushing for hotel development on the island so that we can have additional hotel rooms, especially hotels with international brands.

The only caveat is that we want a hotel development that is sustainable, that is green and environmentally sound. It is one of our core principles for development. We recognize how green we are and how naturistic we have been in our development and we will love to maintain that. Our last assessment shows that we will need almost $150 million to deal with coastal erosion and the impact of rising sea levels. We are certainly insistent on doing our part in ensuring that we keep the island as environmentally sound as possible.

How can AI help Tobago in terms of the tourist experience for a smoother and more seamless visit?

That’s the aim, but we don’t want to replace the human touch with simply a digital touch. Part of our charm is the fact that you can connect to people and that you can see our warm smiles. You can’t see that from a robot. It’s about integrating the latest technology into our outputs, while at the same time not losing who we are and that warm touch that makes us special.

We’ll be integrating technology. Already, unlike anywhere else in the country and most of the region, all our tendering outputs as the THA are digital. We no longer do paper-based tendering for public projects. We are also looking at how AI can assist us in medical care, for example. We are on the hunt for AI technologies to help us do diagnostics, because we have a backlog of images and tests to be read and analyzed. AI can help us look at the pile we have and be able to pull out the priority ones and then double down.

We are also looking at how AI can help with education and teaching. We are aware that today’s generation of pupils are unlike my generation. There is a need to integrate that in the classroom — ICT in the classroom — and how that can advance learning. Covid taught us that we cannot depend solely on teaching the traditional way, that we have to utilize the technology and so continuous teaching and learning can happen in and out of the classroom, which allows for greater delivery.

How would you like to invite people using the cruise industry, also the retirees and the digital nomads, to come and experience the way of living in Tobago?

We welcome cruise ships at two ports in Tobago primarily: at Scarborough and Charlotteville. If you dock at Charlotteville, then you will have to use a tender to come ashore. But it’s absolutely beautiful. It is breathtaking. It is almost like the Caribbean untouched, unspoiled. You’re not landing in a place with Miami skyscrapers. You’re landing in a place with clean, clear waters that you have in some of the best beaches. You can also dock at Scarborough, our capital, another beautiful location, a walkable city, where you have access to several activities and attractions.

We offer visa-free to most countries, including and especially those in North America and you can stay here visa free between 60 and 90 days. We have excellent internet connectivity and internet penetration all around the island. Even if you are to go and pick a log cabin somewhere in the rural parts of the island, you will have access to internet and telephone connectivity. We are currently preparing to launch a second independent submarine cable to the island that will allow for redundancy in terms of telecommunications and that will make us a strong possibility, even for data center operations. Working away from home, working here with your foot deep in a pool somewhere, or on the sandy shores of Pigeon Point, or whether you are lost in the remote parts of Englishman’s Bay or Pirate’s Bay, you will still be able to connect the world. I don’t know how much work you will get done, because you might be distracted by the fact that Tobago counts among one of the most populous areas for birds. I think we are the fourth most populous in the world.

The beauty about coming to Tobago is that you have two islands for the price of one, because with just $7-8, you can take a ferry to Port of Spain. The flight is $30 for 15-20 minutes between the two islands. In other words, you can be in Tobago and if you feel like you need a faster pace, you need the hustle and bustle of a big city, in 15-20 minutes you can be there.

For a period that you are here, you can not just experience and explore Tobago and work, but you can also do that in neighboring Trinidad. You get the price of two islands for one. We also have direct connectivity to territories like Barbados. On a Sunday, you could take a flight directly to Barbados, or you can connect through British Airways that stops in Saint Lucia.

How would you describe Tobago’s safety?

Tobago is safer than most countries in the world, most of the countries in the north. I will admit that in neighboring Trinidad, we do have a crime problem but we are nowhere close to being crime-riddled and being unsafe and we are managing the numbers. We have one of the best rates for apprehension on murders and for crimes like robberies in the region and perhaps in the world. We pick up our culprits quickly and we’re robust with that.

What we benefit from in Tobago is a strong sense of community, a strong sense of family. You come to Tobago to work and within a week, everyone will know your name. The fruit stall vendor on the corner will know your name and will look out for you. The neighbor will look out for you. Within two weeks, you might be at your neighbor’s mango trees: he will tell you instead of purchasing mangoes, just come pick mangoes, or if you want avocados, just come and pick avocados. That’s the nature of who we are. That strong sense of community not only keeps us connected with each other, but it keeps us safe as well.

We are a perfect place for lone travelers, for single travelers and for women travelers as well. Naturally, when you come here, you will get some things that you get in every country, everywhere in the world. As a woman traveler, you may find a gentleman might try to make a move on you, but it will not be aggressive. It will be polite. We tend to be very charming. We tend to be very savvy with our words. But beyond that, you’re safe.

Would you like to take this opportunity to talk about something that we haven’t discussed?

When I say that we are a small territory, I mean that. We are small in every sense of the word. Our budget is small, our population is small, our geographical size is small, but we have big hearts, we have big creative minds, we have big spirits, we have a bold spirit and we welcome the world to our shores. We continue to welcome people to our island all the time and we want you to come and experience what we have.

We changed hands over 33 times, more than any other territory in the Caribbean but we want you to see us as equal partners, to see us as a place for which you can invest in a dignified manner. We really want you to come to Tobago and to keep coming repeatedly. You may not find in Tobago the massive all inclusive, but you certainly will find small boutique hotels, you will find naturistic establishments, you will find that you can rent an apartment downstairs from the home of a local and be able to live like a local, to eat like a local. You can come here and experience these simple joys of something we call the Tobago harvest, which is essentially, every Sunday, a different community opens its doors and a stranger from anywhere can walk into anybody’s home and sit and have a meal and drinks and just have fun and just chit chatter. It’s amazing, but that’s in essence who we are. And so, when we welcome you to Tobago,

As we become more modern, we become more detached from people and detached from each other. We are more likely to make a phone call or send a voice note via WhatsApp or iMessage than we are to meet with loved ones face to face. But Tobago reminds you that those simple things are important. If you want to get reattached, get re-grounded to nature, with people and with yourself, Tobago is a place for you. We warmly welcome you to this greatest island on the planet, where Tobago is beyond ordinary.