PM picks cheapest flight

Rowley and a four-miniter team will leave Trinidad at 6 am Sunday to fly to Panama and then to Chile to go straight into a round of meetings. On his return trip next Wednesday, he will leave Chile at 5 am and again transition through Panama.

The OPM statement said costs are being kept down on the trip, with airfare at $375,368.

“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 OPM release said.

The statement added the cost to fly with with Copa is $375,368, compared to $1,067,256 on American Airlines. “This is just one of many instances where the Prime Minister has demonstrated his commitment to be judicious with the public purse,” the statement added.

Rowley’s decision to tighten his belt comes days after it was revealed that it cost the State $92,000 to send specially selected staff members of the Sport Ministry to Tobago for a sports award ceremony. The money was spent on 12 people including a special adviser.

Dr Rowley has since asked Sport Minister Darryl Smith for a report on the Tobago trip. It also comes after reports in the media of $58,000 in roaming charges incurred while Tourism Minister Shamfa Cudjoe was on state business overseas.

At the weekly post Cabinet press briefing yesterday, Minister in the Office of the Prime Minister Stuart Young told reporters Dr Rowley will lead a four-minister team to Chile, which is TT’s biggest customer of its liquified natural gas (LNG) and a place with which TT should expand trade links.

The visit is at the invitation of Chile President Michele Bachelet.

Also going will be Young, Trade Minister Paula Gopee-Scoon, Energy Minister Franklin Khan, Foreign Affairs Minister Dennis Moses, TT Ambassador to Chile (based in Brazil) Dr Amery Browne, a security detail and protocol and communications staff.

The team will discuss LNG, Chilean renewable energy, intellectual property and trade. Replying to Opposition Leader Kamla Persad-Bissessar’s recent call for Rowley to, “stop vacationing and vacate”, Young said the Opposition can throw out their opinions but the Government will press on with its work.