The Parliamentary Sectoral Committee on Foreign Relations meeting to discuss the ‘Economic Partnership Agreement’ was deferred yesterday after the main speaker, Minister of Foreign Trade and International Cooperation Dr Henry Jeffrey did not show up.
Parliamentary staffers told Stabroek News that at the scheduled start at 3.30 pm, three members of the eight-member committee were present. They were PPP/C MPs Bernard de Santos, Moses Nagamootoo and Pauline Sukhai. AFC MP Raphael Trotman arrived a few minutes after.
Staff of the Office of the Parliament told Stabroek News that according to the regulations, three members form a quorum.
Trotman told Stabroek News that with no word from Jeffrey about his absence Nagamootoo moved a motion for the deferral of the meeting in the absence of the main speaker and for the meeting to be held when it is expected that there would be a larger turnout of the committee members
The members absent were PPP/C MP Anil Nandlall and PNCR-1G MPs Clarissa Riehl, Dr George Norton and chairman of the committee Aubrey Norton.
Jeffrey had been slated to make a presentation on the recent Economic Partnership Agreement between Cariforum and the European Commission.