TT, China sign deal

PRIME MINISTER Patrick Manning yesterday announced that the National Academies for the Performing Arts in Port-of-Spain and San Fernan-do will cost US$100M and construction work on the projects is expected to commence very soon.

Manning said 60 percent of this sum will go towards the north project at the Princes Building site and the other 40 percent will be used for the San Fernando site.

The PM made these points at the signing ceremony for the projects held at Crowne Plaza, Wrightson Road, Port-of-Spain.

Through strong bilateral trade relations between the Republics of China and Trinidad and Tobago, three sets of documents were signed.

The first was the Framework Agreement signed by Chinese Ambassador Xing Huang and acting Foreign Affairs Minister Danny Montano.

The second was the Concession Agreement which was signed by Manning and Ruo Gui Li, president of the Export Import Bank of China and the third was the Commercial Contract where Udecott chairman Calder Hart and Tong Jisheng, president of the Shanghai Construction Group (SCG) International (Trinidad and Tobago) Limited, put their signatures on the document.

Though the projects have been earmarked to be completed in twenty months, Manning said he expects the buildings to be completed in record time given the expediency of the Chinese.

Huang lauded Manning’s committment in making the project a reality, stating that art is a “peculiar fortune” to mankind. He added, “Art has no boundaries which enables us to understand other peoples and cultures.”

Each of the speakers congratulated the National Football team for reaching the World Cup Finals and wished the team further success in Germany.

The speakers all linked the team and its performance to some aspect of the culture of the country, with the Prime Minister going as far as to predict, “We look forward to great success in Germany and even if we don’t win the World Cup on this occasion, we are going to beat England.”