PM calls on Caricom to pay IMPACS fees

He told the media yesterday at the Piarco International Airport after attending the Caricom Heads of Government meeting in Grenada that the security agency needed to be properly resourced.

On the Caricom Arrest Warrant Treaty, which was signed for the first time by five Caricom member States, Rowley said that he did not sign it on Trinidad and Tobago’s behalf because there were one or two minor matters which the Attorney General’s office asked to have a final look at. Nevertheless, it was Government’s intention to sign off on it along with a package of other agreements, he said. Also in discussions with US Under Secretary of the US State Department Thomas Shannon who was guest of Caricom, Rowley said, Caricom Heads outlined the regional expectations of the US, particularly against the background that the Donald Trump administration was repositioning its budget to do things that would impact US assistance to the region.

They also noted that resources the region was receiving in a number of areas were not to be downplayed. “We consider ourselves exposed being so closely attached and involved in the US economy with regards financing,” he said, as well as being a geo-political preference for some regional people.

Shannon assured, he said, that the US would continue to consider its role in supporting the region in areas of information sharing, information gathering, pursuing areas of violence and white collar crime and as far as they are able to help with equipment and maintenance.

In the next week or two, he said, Minister in the Office of the Prime Minister Stuart Young will travel to Washington to further areas of cooperation in security.

On the Caricom Single Market and Economy (CSME), which Trinidad and Tobago has a stake in as the leading exporting country in Caricom, Rowley said, “We have an interest in ensuring that this initiative goes ahead.” Heads agreed, he said, that the Caricom Secretariat should call them together before the year end to focus on advancing the CSME.

“We expect if that comes to pass that countries will come outlining their own difficulties, and together we can see what kind of fabric and umbrella we can use to take into account of the individual difficulties and have a regional advance on this issue.”