Message from PM Kamla on the Occasion of Chinese New Year
Today, February 19th, 2015 marks the start of festivities in celebration of Chinese New Year, the year of the Sheep in the Chinese year 4713.
The annual event is the longest and most important celebration in the Chinese calendar.
The festivities include reunion of families and the exchange of gifts with an emphasis on the colour red symbolizing fire, which according to legend can drive away bad luck. The celebrations end with the traditional lantern festival on the fifteenth day of the first month in the lunar calendar.
This year’s celebration coincides with the end of our Carnival and the start of Lent, a solemn religious observance of our Christian community, which is marked by several weeks of prayer, penance, repentance of sins, almsgiving, atonement and self-denial.
We in Trinidad and Tobago are proud of the contribution of our Chinese community and the very cordial relationship between our two countries, marked by partnerships and the recent opening our first embassy in the Chinese capital.
Trinidad and Tobago looks forward to continuing the cordial and productive relations with the People’s Republic of China and my government looks forward to further collaborations in the best interest of our people.
And so on this auspicious occasion, on behalf of the Government and people of the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago and my own behalf, I extend New Year Greetings to our Chinese community and the government and people of the People’s Republic of China.
Over two centuries, our Chinese community has contributed to the overall development of our twin-island state in the social, economic and cultural mosaic that is Trinidad and Tobago and we look forward to their continued participation.
To the members of our Chinese community, both citizens and foreign residents I extend my congratulations and sincere best wishes for a peaceful and prosperous New Year.
May you be proud and exalted in life, and be happy every day!
The Honourable Kamla Persad-Bissessar, S.C., M.P.
Prime Minister of the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago