(Trinidad Express) The Prime Minister has made good on his promise and disclosed the details of his trip to Chile on Sunday. He said that it would have cost more than TT$1 million to fly on American Airlines, but chose to fly on Copa Airlines, which will cost taxpayers TT$375,000.
Rowley, will lead a high-level delegation to Chile for an official visit at the invitation of the President of Chile Michelle Bachelet.
Chile is the largest importer of Trinidad and Tobago’s LNG. It is expected that energy-related matters will feature heavily on the agenda.
Dr Keith Rowley
The Prime Minister’s flight will leave on Sunday morning shortly after 6 a.m. for Panama City where he will board a connecting flight that arrives in Santiago close to 8 p.m.
Members of the delegation include: Senator the Honourable Dennis Moses, Minister of Foreign and CARICOM Affairs; Senator the Honourable Franklin Khan, Minister of Energy and Energy Industries; Senator the Honourable Paula Gopee-Scoon, Minister of Trade and Industry; the Honour-able Stuart Young, Minister in the Office of the Prime Minister and Minister in the Ministry of the Attorney General and Legal Affairs; His Excel-lency Amery Browne, Ambassador of the Repub-lic of Trinidad and Tobago to the Republic of Chile.
The travel policy allows for the Prime Minister and Cabinet members to fly first class while on official duty.
However, in an effort to curb costs the Prime Minister rejected the option to fly first class with American Airlines and opted for business class on Copa Airlines. The cost for the delegation to fly with American Airlines would have been TT$1,067,256.00, while the cost to fly Copa Airlines is TT$375,368.00. This is just one of many instances where the Prime Minister has demonstrated his commitment to be judicious with the public purse.
The hectic itinerary for the two-day official visit includes a number of back-to-back meetings aimed at broadening our trade relationship with this South American partner.
