Kingston mayor lauds TT’s warmth

IN A symbolic gesture on Friday night, Mayor Murchison Brown presented the keys to the City of Port-of-Spain to his Kingston, Jamaica counterpart, Desmond McKenzie. Immediately after receiving the keys, Mayor McKenzie said in a short address: “I have been here for just over a day, and already, I am feeling like a part of your community, not only because of the similarities I have seen between our cities, but also because of the warm, pleasant feeling I have, being in the company of the charming people of this city and their enterprising city fathers.” Mayor McKenzie was guest of honour at a civic reception organised by the Port-of-Spain Corporation. He arrived in Trinidad last Thursday, especially to hold talks with Mayor Brown on the twinning of the City of Kingston with the City of Port-of-Spain, and so far, it has resulted in a Declaration of Friendship, signed by both mayors.

McKenzie told a distinguished gathering on Friday night: “I never thought that the warmth of the people of Kingston could be outdone by the residents of any other city, until I came to Port-of-Spain.” He paid tribute to Mayor Brown, for the latter’s tremendous foresight in inviting him to the City of Port-of-Spain. He also lauded Brown’s vision of co-operation between the two cities. McKenzie noted that over the years, Caribbean or West Indian people tended to look more outwards to the cities of North America and Europe for progress, and in terms of developing new relationships. “We have failed during the decades since Independence, to seek to develop closer relationships between our cities,” noted McKenzie. The Kingston Mayor got a taste of Trinidad and Tobago’s culture, through young female pannist, Mia Gormandy and calypsonian, Lord Relator.