Manning: TT the preferred site for FTAA headquarters

The Government of Dominica has given the reassurance that Trinidad and Tobago remains its “preferred” site for the Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA) headquarters. Prime Minister Patrick Manning made the disclosure on day two of the San Fernando East Constituency’s 37th Annual Confer-ence of Delegates at the San Fernando Technical Institute, yesterday. Manning, who is the elected Member of Parliament for the Constituency, also disclosed that an agreement for the transferring of all health-care personnel from the public sector to the Regional Health Authoriites was close to completion. An upbeat and confident Manning said that TT, after consultations with members of the Dominican Government over the past week, had been assured the remarks made by one of their Minister’s had been taken “out of turn” and that their support was for the FTAA headquarters to be established at Port-of-Spain.

In a wide-ranging speech, the Prime Minister said that a “major obstacle” to health sector reform was that personnel were divided between the public service and the Regional Health Authority. “What we have done is to work on ten principles that the representative trade union would be guaranteed succession rights when the transfer of personnel have been made to the RHA,” he said. Manning also predicted an overhaul of the Health Sector by July 2006, complete with a National Health Insurance Scheme that would guarantee an acceptable level of health care for all citizens. He noted that all secondary schools would be de-shifted by 2006 and that a major construction project involving the construction of such new schools would also begin in January. There are 19 junior secondary schools still to be de-shifted.