Grenada not giving up Green Package

PM Mitchell, who heads the Caricom Prime Ministers’ Sub-Committee for Cricket was speaking at a news conference at the Hilton Trinidad in Port-of-Spain yesterday.

He refuted a story published in yesterday’s Newsday that his country had abandoned its decision to host World Cup cricket matches as they struggle to recover from the devastation of Hurricane Ivan.

"I think it is an opportune time for the country to showcase its reconstruction process and to show that it is back in business to let people know regionally and internationally that the country is recovering (from the ravages of Hurricane Ivan)," he said. PM Mitchell added that Grenada was putting a lot of investment into World Cup preparations.

On the region’s preparations for the World Cup in general, Mitchell said Caricom recently got a report from the Chief Executive Officer of the World Cup Cricket Committee Chris Dehring which indicated that there were some "red dots" (countries that were in some difficulty).

But he stressed the problems were not insurmountable.

"For example the problem Grenada had we are quite sure we can deal with. In a couple of weeks we believe all the red dots would be dealt with because of actions we have already taken," he said.

Mitchell also disclosed that the West Indies Cricket Board had been invited to become an associate member of Caricom. PM Mitchell is in Trinidad and Tobago for the 17th Inter-Sessional Meeting of Caricom.