PORT-OF-SPAIN Mr José Manuel Salazar-Xirinachs, will pay an official visit to Trinidad and Tobago from 14-16 February 2016. The visit is his first to the Caribbean as Director of the ILO Regional Office for Latin America and the Caribbean, a role he assumed on 1 June 2015 in Lima, Peru.

During the 2-day high-level mission Mr Salazar-Xirinachs will meet with representatives from Government, workers and employers’ organizations in Trinidad and Tobago. He is expected to hold meetings with:

· Senator the Honourable Jennifer Baptiste-Primus, Minister of Labour and Small Enterprise Development, Ministry of Labour and Small Enterprise Development, Trinidad and Tobago

· Ms Frances Seignoret, Acting Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Foreign and CARICOM Affairs, Trinidad and Tobago

· Mr Richard Blewitt, United Nations Resident Coordinator and UNDP Resident Representative for Trinidad and Tobago, Suriname, Aruba, Curaçao and Sint Maarten

· Trade union and employers’ representatives

Mr Salazar-Xirinachs is also expected to attend the first meeting of the Trinidad and Tobago bipartite forum with Ms Claudia Coenjaerts, Director of the ILO Decent Work Team and Office for the Caribbean, organized by the Employers’ Consultative Association of Trinidad and Tobago (ECATT) and the National Trade Union Centre of Trinidad and Tobago (NATUC), and supported by the ILO Office for the Caribbean.

Mr Salazar-Xirinachs joined the ILO in 2005 as Executive Director of the ILO’s Employment Sector in Geneva. Prior to joining the ILO, Mr Salazar-Xirinachs served from 1998-2005 as Director of the Trade Unit of the Organization of American States (OAS) in Washington. From 1997 to 1998 Mr Salazar-Xirinachs was Minister of Foreign Trade of Costa Rica, during which he presided over the Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA) process.

Mr Salazar-Xirinachs, a Costa Rican national, holds a Masters degree in Development Economics and a PhD in Economics from the University of Cambridge, England. He is the author of numerous publications, most recently he co-authored a book entitled “Transforming economies: Making industrial policies work for growth, jobs and development”.