PM: High-tech radar coming for Grenada, St Vincent

PRIME MINISTER Patrick Manning has announced plans to have the high-tech Israeli radar system being implemented as part of this country’s national security effort, set up in Grenada and St Vincent and the Grenadines. Manning’s gesture of goodwill comes in the aftermath of Hurricane Ivan, which hit Grenada, Jamaica, and to a lesser extent, the St Vincent and the Grenadines. Manning gave no figures on the cost of this plan.

Speaking at the People’s National Movement (PNM) annual fund- raising event billed as “A Republic Day — September Affair,” held at the Cascadia Hotel and Conference Centre in St Ann’s on Saturday night, Manning said security in the Caribbean at this time was of major concern. It is for this reason, he said, that Trinidad and Tobago was carrying the lion’s share of the security effort in Grenada. Manning said the United States and the Caribbean were the two largest trading markets for this country; the US for its consumption of natural gas and the Caribbean as the main outlet for the domestic manufacturing sector.

He said 80 percent of Caribbean trade revolved around Trinidad and Tobago. Manning said Grenada at this time had no GDP which would certainly affect Trinidad and Tobago. The Prime Minister described Grenada, in its present state, as a security risk to Trinidad and Tobago, as drug dealers were free to move in and set up shop. Tackling the issue of Grenada’s recovery, Manning said this country cannot fund Grenada alone. The Prime Minister said he plans to internationalise that country’s rebuilding efforts when he addresses the United Nations later this week.