(Trinidad Guardian) – High-level talks between Trinidad and Tobago and Jamaica on Wednesday focused on forming one carrier for the Caribbean.
This was confirmed on Thursday night by chairman of Caribbean Airlines Ltd (CAL) Arthur Lok Jack. He said the International Finance Corporation (IFC), a private sector arm of the World Bank, was charged with the responsibility of divesting Air Jamaica, which Jamaican Prime Minister Bruce Golding has said has a debt of US$1 billion. Wednesday’s discussions took place between a Jamaican delegation, led by Golding, and acting Prime Minister Lenny Saith, leading the local team.
“We (CAL) took an in-depth look into it and found that it offered an opportunity for the vision of a one Caribbean airline or one airline to serve the Caribbean. It was an elusive dream in the past.
“We had submitted a proposal to the IFC and the investment team. The proposal was submitted within the time frame we were allowed.”
He said there were other bids and the divestment team had to make an evaluation and a recommendation to the Jamaica Government. “That decision has not yet been taken. In the meantime, there were a lot of iterations – a lot of back and forth, between the divestment team and ourselves, discussions and clarifications and those are still on-going,” Lok Jack said.
Referring to the proposal, Lok Jack said it was not fully rejected by the Jamaica Government. “Caribbean Airlines’ proposal was never formally rejected and, therefore, it remained open and discussions continued,” Lok Jack said. He said he had no knowledge whether the proposal would cost the T&T government money, only that the proposal was put to the divestment team. Wednesday’s talks at the Diplomatic Centre between Golding and Saith, whose team comprised Finance Minister Karen Tesheira and Trade Minister Mariano Browne were aimed at securing the approval of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) for a US$1.2 billion loan that would be a lifeline for the sinking Jamaican economy.
The IMF has insisted that Jamaica divests Air Jamaica as a conditionality of the loan. There was no acknowledgement of the relationship between Golding’s visit and the imminent IMF agreement in a statement the T&T Office of the Prime Minister put out on Wednesday, which said only the talks “related to both Caribbean air carriers.” Ian Brunton, chief executive officer of Caribbean Airlines, had said in an interview in October that talks about a possible merger between Air Jamaica and Caribbean Airlines were ongoing.
Meanwhile, Golding has described CAL as the “preferred bidder” for Air Jamaica in a debate in the Jamaican Parliament during which he announced a 27-month, US$1.3 billion stand-by loan with the International Monetary Fund (IMF). An agreement on the divestment of Air Jamaica was a key sticking point for the IMF in deciding whether to lend money to Jamaica. Golding flew into Port-of-Spain after a whirlwind visit to Caracas where he was trying to get the Venezuelan Government to review the terms of the Petrocaribe, according to reports.
As reported exclusively in the Guardian, Golding’s visit to T&T was a prelude to an agreement with IMF and a statement by the Prime Minister in Parliament on Thursday. Speaking in Jamaica’s Parliament, Golding said the island faced higher taxes, increases to electricity and gasolene as well as the sale of a partly state-owned alumina refinery, as a result of the IMF agreement.
