The court was being asked to appoint the liquidators in conjunction with action taken by Government which has also petitioned the High Court to have CL Financial wound up because it is unable to pay the $15 billion debt.

The winding up hearing is set for July 25. At a marathon session at the Hall of Justice late yesterday, the judge heard from attorneys for the State who filed an application for the appointment of the provisional liquidators.

In its winding up petition, the Government has argued CLF is insolvent and its continued operation is reckless. It has also said it was in the public’s interest to have the conglomerate wound up to repay its debt to the Government and other creditors. It also noted that shareholders have sought to undermine the conditions under which the Government agreed to provide financial support to CLF and its subsidiaries by seeking to remove the government’s directors on CLF’s board.

What exactly is the current state of play? Since 2008 Trinidad and Tobago entered a path of low growth and, after 2014, it has recorded negative GDP growth rates. Our economy is specialised in the production and export of oil and gas, as well as products in the oil and gas value chain. The relatively recent economic growth was largely determined by the good performance of commodity prices at international level. As at 2016 the petroleum industry (including petrochemicals) accounted for 32% of the GDP, compared to 7.8% from manufacturing. The petroleum industry is responsible for 83% of the total exports of Trinidad and Tobago and it is the chief destination for Foreign Direct Investments (87%). However, this sector only provides 3.2% of employment, with 85.4% of the workforce employed in the services sector.

We are hoping that the nonenergy sector can be transformed to generate output and revenue to eventually replace that loss from the energy sector. What is the present performance of the non-energy sector? If we look at the manufacturing sector, the Food, Beverages & Tobacco subsector represents nearly 25% of manufacturing firms working in this space, accounting for 34% of manufacturing employment and 56% of GDP of the sector. In terms of GDP, this sub-sector is followed by chemicals and non-metallic minerals with 15% (ie non-petrochemicals), printing and publishing with 11%, and assembly-type and related industries with 11%. Manufacturing exports in 2016 accounted for 13.5% of total exports and were heavily concentrated, at that time, within the iron and steel sub-sector and transport equipment for ships and boats, which together accounted for roughly 75% of total manufacturing exports in 2015. The closure of ISPATT and CENTRIN would have significantly reduced exports of this sector.

Generally, when the economy experienced a good trade performance it was driven by the petroleum industry, which presented high surpluses against trade balance deficits in other sectors. Since the financial crisis in 2008, the overall trade balance shows a downward trend.

To restructure the economy and identify opportunities for economic diversification this country must pay attention to some key issues.

We must look at diversification opportunities of particular interest that include first high-value opportunities to diversify away from commodity exports of oil and gas and related products.

Secondly, we must identify exportoriented activities (both goods and services) to assist us to balance inflows and outflows of foreign currency. This is crucial for a small open economy for which access to foreign currency is the life blood of the country. Thirdly, we must identify and develop feasible opportunities that build on current capabilities. We must partner our research capabilities in the universities with both the service and manufacturing concerns to develop a product space separate from that of the energy sector, which produces few spin offs, to create a dense product space. Fourthly our small private sector that accounts for a very small percentage of exports must select activities that would benefit from co-ordinated support from government that focuses on the global market. The development of an export capability to replace the declining energy sector is vital part of our development thrust.

We must understand the state of the economy so we cannot be fooled.

In addition, if policy decisions such as those above do not reverse the decline on government revenue the reducing employment level maybe one option to be exercised.

The Tourism Ministry’s second annual ‘staycation’ promotion runs from July 1 to August 31. During this two-month period, locals can enjoy a more affordable vacation, without needing to buy foreign exchange (forex), while learning more about Trinidad and Tobago’s (TT) culture, natural wonders and places of historical significance.

Tourism Minister, Shamfa Cudjoe says the current economic downturn has made ‘staycations’ much more attractive to Trinbagonians.

“Against the backdrop of a challenging economic environment, more and more residents are electing to take vacations within TT rather than abroad.

Our records show that the appeal of the staycation, the long weekend getaway and the domestic experience has increased significantly over recent years. In addition, there seems to be a greater appreciation, awareness and demand for what TT has to offer.” Cudjoe was speaking at the recent launch of Stay to Get Away 2017, where she also highlighted the fact that “domestic tourism is a multi-milliondollar industry; worth nearly TT $1 billion annually, contributing substantially to the overall performance of the sector.” Addressing tourism stakeholders, including members of the Trinidad and Tobago In-coming Tour Operators Association (TTITOA), as they stood in the reception space at the House of Angostura, Eastern Main Road, Laventille, Cudjoe said many tourism businesses would not survive if not for the year-round business of domestic visitors.

“Yes, the international traveller generates foreign currency inflows and that is critical but when holiday makers stay here, we retain the hard currency that would have been spent abroad. As simple as it seems, it keeps many businesses afloat during the low and lonely periods. So your ‘staycation’ redistributes your currency within the boundaries of your own country. You are therefore, important to our tourism, important to our economy, important to the development of our country.” Citing some statistics, Cudjoe added that according to a 2015 survey conducted by the Tourism Development Company, more than 278,000 overnight domestic trips were taken by TT households over the survey period, at an average of two trips per household.

That’s an increase of 6.3 per cent from 2013.

“The leisure market that includes sports, recreation, cultural activities and visiting friends and relatives accounted for 35 per cent of all domestic trips.

Business, conferences, conventions and retreats were some of the other reasons for domestic travel.” Cudjoe added that ‘staycationers’ spent an average of TT $293.90 each day on an overnight trip, “approximating a total overnight domestic expenditure of over TT $862,268,817.” Providing further data, the minister said 382,761 people travelled from Trinidad to Tobago while 123,619 people travelled from Tobago to Trinidad.

“Trinidadian residents vacationing in Tobago spent over TT $500 million, which translates to about 69 per cent of Total Domestic Travel Expenditure,” while Tobago residents spent approximately TT $189 million in Trinidad.

Cudjoe argued that this kind of business activity could only rebound to the benefit of local service providers, business operators, tourism stakeholders, and by extension, the wider national economy.

“This means business for the small buses, maxis and taxi operators, for the double vendors in Debe, the coconut water man on the savannah, the pannist, the calypso entertainer, the carpenter and builders upgrading the rooms, more working hours for the house keeper, the waitress at the restaurant and the list goes on and on.”

In addition to TTITOA, the ministry has partnered with The Trinidad Hotel Restaurants and Tourism Association (THRTA), The Small Tourism Accommodation Owners Association (STAOTT), along with a number of stakeholders from Tobago,” as it continues to extend invitations and add to the number of stakeholders participating in this year’s initiative.”

Cudjoe praised this year’s participants for “really rising to the occasion to offer affordable packages to budget conscious domestic tourists that guarantee value for money (including) a diverse offering of properties, tours and experiences on offer that will whet the appetite of even the most seasoned traveller.”

In order for people to have easy access to relevant information about this domestic tourism campaign, the ministry has created a dedicated Facebook page; Staytnt, where persons can get updates on tours, hotel packages, community festivals and events.

The ministry also announced that “in order to ensure a more integrated approach to our digital marketing efforts, the GoTrinBago app will also be used to bring further awareness of this awareness campaign.” TTITOA president, Lorraine Pouchet, also spoke at the launch. She described as “refreshing”, the ministry’s recognition “that the tourism industry is a stakeholder-driven one. (This) is a step in the right direction and can assist in building a sustainable and vibrant tourism industry.”

The accused woman of Mt Pleasant Road, Carolina Village appeared before Magistrate Siumongal Ramsaran in the Couva courthouse to answer the charge laid by WPC Henry of the Couva CID.

The charge was indictable and so the accused mother was not called upon to plead. Residents reported to Couva police that on several occasions, the accused left her child alone overnight in a house. On Tuesday at about 11 pm, Sgt Ali together with PC Girwar, WPC Henry and others went to the house where they found the child.

At the time, the child who is a primary school student was asleep, alone in the house. It was alleged that the mother went to work at a night club in the Penal district.

Yesterday, the court instructed the child to be handed over to the care and custody of the Children’s Authority. Magistrate Ramsaran granted the woman $10,000 own bail and adjourned the case to August 15.

Dear Mentoring Mulling,

Mentoring has a long history, and many organisations continue to provide career mentorship to high-performing junior staff, as a way to help these persons attain their full potential and contribute even more to the organisation’s goals. AFETT, through its REACH Mentorship Programme, also provides professional mentoring to a selection of female secondary students. But before we get into the benefits of mentorship, it is important to understand exactly what we mean by mentoring.

The original Mentor is a character in Homer’s epic poem ‘The Odyssey’.

When Odysseus, King of Ithaca went to fight in the Trojan War, he entrusted the care of his kingdom to Mentor. Mentor also served as teacher and overseer to Odysseus’ son, Telemachus. In the Merriam- Webster dictionary, mentor is also defined as ‘a trusted counsellor or guide’. A mentor is thus an individual, usually older and always more experienced, who helps another with his/her individual development, without a thought for personal gain.

Many HR professionals use the term to describe in-house training techniques, and it is not uncommon either to hear senior managers describe themselves as mentors when talking about their relationships with junior co-workers. Aggressive career development usually entails latching on to a mentor who can help expand your network. Whatever the context, mentoring relationships can be among the most rewarding career-related interactions one can have – if done correctly. So, what exactly should a mentor and mentee be responsible for? And how should the relationship be managed?

For a mentoring relationship to be effective the mentor and mentee should be fully cognizant of their responsibilities. While both must understand that it is a voluntary process grounded in confidentiality and respect, most people agree that since the mentee is the principal beneficiary, she/he ought to manage the structure and progress of the relationship. The mentee should:
• Look around and identify people whom they admire or would like to emulate, regardless of age or gender
• Be courageous – being pleasantly persistent is the only way to develop any good business relationship. Since the mentee is the one looking for guidance, the onus is on him/her to be proactive
• Be clear on what she/he wants from a mentor – having tentative developmental plans, timelines and goals in mind at the start of the process is important to guiding the mentoring relationship
• Take responsibility for the flow of the relationship
• Guide discussions of what both parties expect, including meeting agendas, feedback and scheduling
• Ask questions and present scenarios
• Let the mentor know how learnings are being applied
• Give credit and gratitude for the support of the mentor Mentoring is undoubtedly one of the most powerful developmental tools available. And while the advantages to the mentee are obvious, the mentor also stands to benefit from the relationship as their own interpersonal, training and networking skills are enhanced in the process.

Not everyone can be a mentor.

Ideally, the mentor should be a trustworthy individual who role models the right behaviours and demonstrates empathy. The mentor is responsible for: Having a clear understanding of the mentee’s expectations
• Ensuring that he/she has the time and resources to commit to the mentorship relationship
• Encouraging her/his protégé to communicate openly
• Helping the mentee develop competencies needed to reach his/ her goals
• Reacting constructively to the mentee’s goals, ideas and plans
• Introducing the mentee to other helpful people and resources
• Providing genuine and positive feedback
• Checking in regularly to provide encouragement and share ideas Like most things, to realise its full potential, the mentoring relationship should be properly managed and measured. With clearly articulated goals, frequent feedback and full commitment, mentoring can truly change lives.

Good luck, AFETT.

AFETT is a not-for-profit organisation formed in 2002 with the goal of bringing together professional women and engaging in networking opportunities, professional training and business ideas. ASK AFETT is a column meant to address issues and concerns of professionals seeking advice to assist in progressing in their careers.

Today’s response was written by AFETT member, Lara Quentrall-Thomas, founder of AFETT and chairman of Regency Recruitment & Resources Ltd. Learn more about AFETT at www.

afett.com, search for AFETT Events on Facebook, follow us @AFETTEXECS on Twitter or contact us at 354-7130.

Email us your career-related questions at admin.afett@gmail.com.

“Saying that this is the first plan doesn’t mean that the other two plans were unsuccessful.” The difference between these two statements by Maxie Cuffie, Public Administration and Communications minister is a year. The first was made during an interview with Business Day last year, the second, during the recent launch of Fastforward II.

Fastforward II is this country’s latest draft national ICT plan.

Business Day sat with Cuffie after the event to discuss it and where this country’s ICT is heading. We bring up the issue of implementation, as we did during the interview last year. The public is always hearing about plans, but very rarely the results. Fastforward II was preceded by a Fastforward I and SmartTT plan both covering the period from 2003 to 2016.

“The first version of Fast Forward led to Gov.net, the government backbone as well as lot of infrastructure. It was really geared toward increasing connectivity as well. SmarTT was also about going for greater connectivity. It had a short lifespan, but it had some successes.

Because of the changes in the ICT industry, cloud computing, for example, now plays a far bigger role than it did say four or five years ago.

You need to consequently update your plans and make them and make them consistent with the changes in technology. That is what this plan is about,” said Cuffie.

Some of the successes the plan reported was this country’s move up the World Economic Forum Network Readiness Index from 70 to 2015, to 67 out of 139 countries. It also has a mobile penetration as of 157 per cent, where the average for most countries is 97 per cent. As of 2013, 70 per cent of homes in this country had computers versus 42 per cent in 2010. Meanwhile Internet household penetration has jumped from 58 percent in 2014 to 65 percent in 2015.

It also said all government entities are now online and the government portal, TTconnect, makes available 627 services for citizens, 256 for businesses and 118 for non-residents.

The plan also cites improvements in the number of service providers available, as well as the quality and choice of services and a reduction in prices. ICT’s contribution to the country’s GDP also increased from three per cent or three billion in 2006 to 3.4 per cent or 5.59 billion in 2015.

But it recognised shortfalls as well.

This country still relied largely on market forces to construct this country’s ICT infrastructure and said this may not be enough. The country also lagged behind developed nations in the productive and innovative use of ICT. The population, moreover, was still largely unaware of e-services and even though ICT penetration itself was high, digital literacy remained relatively low. Several pieces of legislation within the Electronic Transaction Act and the Data Protection Act, necessary to support the operation of ICT infrastructure, remain in limbo.

We discussed these during last year’s interview with Cuffie. Then, he had deemed the legislation one of his main priorities.

This year, he admitted some of the legislation was still unproclaimed and it was affecting the implementation of other initiatives. One of these is the roll out of Wi-Fi across the country. So far, 13 buses feature the technology. We asked the minister for an update.

“The telecommunications provided for it,” said Cuffie, “But it was not spelt out and enforceable. What we needed to do was to get the act amended and implemented. We are in the process of doing that now. While we are doing that, we are working on a schedule as to where we are putting it, how we are going to deploy it. We now have commitment, because I have spoken to the telecommunications authority and the providers. To facilitate the deployment of Wi-Fi at no cost to the public, the concessionaires will be absorbing the cost.” Cuffie shied away from saying more until the details were approved by Cabinet.

The plan has ambitious targets.

Over its five-year life span, it seeks to increase this ICT’s contribution to this country’s GDP by five per cent, increase broadband access to 85 per cent with minimum download speeds of 100 mbps for households and businesses, 30,000 directly created jobs and number one status among our the Caribbean neighbours in the World Economic Forum rankings, among others.

It is expected to be reviewed in 2021. Built within the plan is also a measure to monitor the implementation of Fastforward II’s objectives, including the formulation of a National ICT steering committee and the appointment of a National Chief Information Officer.

The stakes for success, or failure, are high.

The World Bank estimates for every ten per cent increase in Internet speeds boosts economic growth by 1.3 per cent.

“I just want to underscore the importance of this for diversification and for economic growth. People don’t see the connection,” Cuffie told Business Day. “They expect to see that we are going to open this a company. But an economy isn’t driven by government. It is driven by ordinary businesses and what we are doing is facilitating through ICT, the growth of businesses.” The draft plan is available on the public administration and communications ministry’s website for feedback and comment.

The mandir’s executive pleaded in a claim filed in the High Court, that they have been using the land adjoining the temple to house their jhandi with flags, religious offerings and providing parking for devotees and have been doing so for several years. The temple is an affiliate of the Sanatan Dharma Maha Sabha and the disputed land comprises 408 square metres.

Artma Maharaj, Shiva Mohan Mahabir and Reuben Pariag, in their capacity as executive members of the mandir, accuse Raghoonanan of unlawfully entering the property while a religious function was in progress on November 6. They further alleged that wedding functions were often interrupted and, on another occasion, guests were forced to move their vehicles while a religious function was in progress.

They are contending that at no time Raghoonanan ever asserted ownership over the land although he has paper title to it and that the mandir has been in uninterrupted occupation of the plot for more than 16 years. The case came up before Justice Ronnie Boodoosingh yesterday who gave directions for filing of witness statements by both sides, by October 2. The matter was then fixed for November 6 for a pre trial review.

A Port Authority official told Newsday the ship stayed offshore as local customs and immigration officials went aboard to clear it for entry. It was due to dock at the Port of Port of Spain later in the evening.

The vessel was delayed on Sunday in the Panama Canal and was subsequently delayed further due to bad weather. The vessel is being leased from Bridgemans Services Group of Vancouver, Canada at a daily rate of US$22,500 (TT$157,500).

Minister of Works and Transport Rohan Sinanan, earlier in the week told Newsday once the formalities were cleared, the vessel which replaces the Super Fast Galicia on the sea bridge, will do a maiden run to Tobago after which it will begin its service.

He expects that the Cabo Star will begin its service by July 23.

Meanwhile, Newsday Tobago has reported the President of the Truckers and Traders Association Horace Amede as saying that once operational, truckers “will be relieved” of the stress of being stuck in the airport at 2.00 am to 3.00 am.

Since the Super Fast Galicia’s service was pulled from the route, and two smaller vessels were used as a replacement, truckers were not allowed to accompany their vehicles. They had to use the air bridge.

Once Cabo Start starts its service, the truckers will once again be able to travel with their vehicles.

Meanwhile, Newsday Tobago also reported Port Authority Chief Executive Officer Charmaine Lewis as saying that measures are being taken to minimise inconvenience for truckers and the business community. This includes extending the current leases of the two replacement cargo vessels, the Atlantic Provider and Trinity Transporter.

The company was responding to reported concerns by staff of Caribbean Airlines Limited (CAL) who are protesting plans, reported exclusively in Newsday on Monday, by the airline to relocate its largely female corporate office staff from the company’s head office at Golden Grove Road, Piarco, to the Tamana InTech Park.

CAL’s employee change management team questioned the planned move, saying it was not consulted on the decision.

They said the Wallerfield area is “frequented by murderers and kidnappers” and questioned whether management considered providing security escort for the workers. In a statement responding to questions submitted by Newsday, e tecK said it is committed to the safety and security of all its tenants and visitors to the industrial estate.

Saying iQor has been occupying the e TecK Flagship Complex at the park since 2015, e TecK said it provides security coverage in and around the industrial estate which comprises 1,100 acres and has established positive networks with the country’s protective services within the area. “Companies on the park, in partnership with PTSC, can develop customised transportation solutions based on employee location and shift requirements. This cost is borne by the requesting company.” As to the suggestion by CAL’s change management team that the move is driven by e tecK’s mandate to fill space at the industrial estate, e tecK said it’s three-story flagship complex on the Tamana InTech Park is occupied by its staff and employees of its tenant, iQor Limited and it has space available for lease on the first and ground floors. e tecK said as owner and landlord of the estate it facilitates site visits by any organisation which requests such visits but it does not decide which companies lease space.

Of that figure, $3.2 billion has been spent on professional fees and other associated costs, yet the last time annual audited accounts were published for the group was in 2007.

We quarrel about the Minister of Tourism’s roaming fees and the Minister of Sport’s luxury weekend in Tobago but barely complain about billions of our money lost in the Clico fiasco. Why is that?

STEVEN VALDEZ via email