Partnership for Environmental Protection between the United States of America and the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago, Tobago, 1998
Done at Tobago 5 April 1998
Primary source citation: Copy of text provided by the U.S. Department of State
RECALLING the Declaration of the United States/Caribbean Summit, celebrated in Bridgetown, Barbados, in May 1997;
RECOGNIZING the importance of environmental protection management policies, including measures to address the causes of adverse climate change, to the well-being of present and future generations in the Western Hemisphere;
ACKNOWLEDGING the commitment in the Final Declaration of the Hemispheric Summit on Sustainable Development, celebrated in Santa Cruz de la Sierra, Bolivia, in December 1996, to promote the development of compatible national systems of environmental legislation and regulatory compliance that provide high levels of environmental protection in the Americas,
REAFFIRMING the commitment to the hemispheric Partnership for Pollution Prevention as provided in the Action Plan of the Summit of the Americas, celebrated in Miami, United States of America, December 1994;
RECALLING Principle 4 of the 1992 Rio Declaration on Environment and Development of the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development, which asserts that environmental protection constitutes an integral part of the development process and cannot be considered in isolation from it;
FURTHER RECALLING Principle 6 of the Rio Declaration, which acknowledges the special situation and needs of developing countries, particularly the least developed and those most environmentally vulnerable;
NOTING that Principle 9 of the Rio Declaration calls on states to cooperate to strengthen internal
capacity-building for sustainable development by improving scientific understanding through the sharing of
scientific and technical knowledge;
REAFFIRMING their mutual commitments to protect the marine environment made through the 1983 Convention for the Protection and Development of the Marine Environment of the Wider Caribbean Region (the “Cartagena Convention”); and
REAFFIRMING their determination, as stated in Section I, Article 8 of the United States/Caribbean Summit Plan of Action, to strengthen cooperative efforts on environmental protection in furtherance of sustainable development;
Intend to cultivate a partnership between the Environmental Management Authority of Trinidad and Tobago and its counterpart environmental protection agencies in the United States of America in the interest of protecting public health and the common natural heritage of mankind.
Cooperation under this partnership is intended to foster, but not be limited to, measures in the following areas:
- Protecting the marine environment from land-based sources and activities, including improved management of solid and hazardous wastes.
- Controlling air pollution to address the risks of adverse climate change, protect the ozone layer, and reduce the risks from exposure to airborne lead.
- The safe management of chemicals, especially pesticides.
- Institutional development, especially with regard to environmental law, regulatory enforcement, and compliance strategies.

- Risk assessment and risk management.
Nothing set forth above will create or imply any financial or binding commitment on the part of either side. Activities under this partnership are intended to be conducted in a manner consistent with the policies and commitments made under existing multilateral and bilateral agreements to which the United States and Trinidad and Tobago are signatories.
The private sector and public interest organizations may be invited to participate in improving national environmental protection performance, advise on the formulation and implementation of public policy, and to promote community-based environmental protection programs.
Signed at Tobago, April 5, 1998

[Signature] [Signature]
Madeleine K. Albright Basdeo Panday
Secretary of State Prime Minister
United States of America Republic of Trinidad and Tobago
1360 The Marine Mammal Commission Compendium