(Trinidad Express) The Saudi Arabian government sent two private jets to fly Caricom heads to the Middle East and also footed the bill for their accommodation, Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley revealed yesterday.
However, he said this does not mean that there was any “sellout” in accepting transportation from the Saudis for the Saudi Arabia-Caricom summit.
Speaking at a news conference at the Diplomatic Centre, St Ann’s, Rowley said the Saudi government sent two jets—one to Barbados to transport Caricom leaders from the Southern Caribbean such as T&T, Grenada and Suriname and another jet to Miami to transport leaders from Jamaica, Belize, etc.
“If the Saudis openly and transparently provide transport to us we don’t sell ourselves short to be concerned about any Opposition’s position that because we accept transportation to a meeting in this way that we somehow would compromise our national position but I’ll expect them to say that because you see if that’s what you are then clearly you’ll think others are like that,” Rowley said.
He said it is quite normal for heads of government to be accommodated when they visit.
“Whenever there is a Caricom meeting here no matter how contentious the issues are on the table the Government of Trinidad and Tobago pays for every head who comes in here accommodation-wise and, when we go out, the country in which the meeting is taking place that country foots the bill for the head of government,” he said.
Moving away from hydrocarbons
The Prime Minister spoke about the successes of his visit to Saudi Arabia with his delegation for the first Saudi-Caricom summit last week.
He said there were discussions ranging from energy, tourism and development funding in particular as it relates to climate change.
He said the region is affected by climate change and needs help in providing protection.
“The Saudis are willing to listen to us with development financing to deal with issues of climate change,” he said, adding that Saudi Arabia is a major producer of solar power infrastructure and Trinidad and Tobago is looking in that direction.
He said both Governments know that a day will come when they cannot rely as heavily as T&T is on hydrocarbons either because it has run out or the world would have changed.
Rowley said a future has to be built in other areas such as tourism. He said investment in tourism in Tobago is a more sustainable industry.
“We need to do the investment now so that when the drying up comes for whatever reason, your presence in the tourism environment would see you accessing earnings,” he said.
He said the Saudis are interested in considering development financing for tourism in the region.
Rowley said hopefully local entrepreneurs can be persuaded to invest in T&T and see that financing is available.
He said transportation directly to Saudi Arabia will benefit the Muslim community as he noted many go to that country to fulfil the Hajj pilgrimage.
The Prime Minister said discussions did arise with respect to the Pointe-a-Pierre refinery. However he said they will continue to keep talking about it to see if there are opportunities.