PM ‘forgives’ Caricom over PetroCaribe deal

Manning was addressing a post-Cabinet media conference after just returning from a Caricom Heads of Government conference in St Lucia where the Petrocaribe agreement was signed by Caricom countries, excluding Trinidad and Tobago, and Barbados.

The meeting, said Manning, had concluded with "amicable relations" which caused him "great optimism."

Current oil prices of up to US$61 per barrel, he said, posed a major problem for the non-oil countries of the Caribbean. He related that a hike in oil prices in the 1970s had caused a world-wide recession, and that economists were now saying that this might recur, including in the Caribbean.

"Leaders are very concerned," he noted of his Caricom counterparts.

He said that while the Petrocaribe deal was good for the Caricom countries in letting them pay part-price in commodities like sugar and bananas, the deal would encroach on Petrotrin’s Caribbean market estimated at 50,000 to 60,000 barrels per day.

However, Manning also said Trinidad and Tobago could not adequately supply the countries of the Caribbean, and that further dialogue was required.

He said Caricom had mandated him to speak with the Venezuelan authorities to try to hammer out an arrangement that does not diminish the benefits to accrue from Caribbean territories, while at the same time not prejudicing the interest of any one of the countries.

He would get advice from Petrotrin, he said.

"I propose to embark on that initiative very shortly."

He refused to malign either the countries of Caricom or Venezuela.