Kamla
knocks Manning's diplomacy
Trinidad
Express
Port
Spain
Petroleumworld.com
09 10 06
Opposition Leader Kamla Persad-Bissessar has knocked
Prime Minister Patrick Manning's recent attack on
US President George Bush's regime, saying he should
have been intelligent enough to know that diplomacy
and statesmanship are the key principles in foreign
policy negotiations.
On Tuesday, Manning criticised the
Bush administration for not affording Trinidad and
Tobago, as a major provider of oil and gas to the
United States, preferential treatment for local
goods and services on its markets in return. He
also knocked the US for allowing its commitment
to the war on drugs in the Caribbean region lapse.
In a press release on Wednesday,
Persad-Bissessar said if Manning had negotiated
his position prior to the emergence of the US as
our primary market for oil and gas, he would not
have had to try to raise it now.
The release also said the issue
needed to be raised in an articulated and firm manner
by a united Caricom, rather than in a threatening,
deliberate and open forum by one prime minister.
She also criticised Government's
decision to offer American businesses, such as aluminium
giant Alcoa, LNG deals, then complain about their
operations.
"It is clearly hypocritical
to be both offering them LNG deals and simultaneously
complaining that they have access to too much LNG,"
she said.
The Opposition said Alcoa was required
to sign a confidentiality agreement not to disclose
the price it was paying for T&T LNG.
"He (Manning) talks about LNG
to deflect from the pressure he is getting for ignoring
public sentiment in regard to the aluminium plants,"
she said.
"He talks about preferential
markets to deflect attention from the failing business
confidence, reduction in the competitiveness caused
by his government's splurging. The PM talks about
the US performance on drugs to distract from his
own Government's failure on drugs, murders and virtually
every other type of crime."
She added, "This Government
prefers to spend millions of our taxpayers' dollars
on PR gimmicks, political tricks and sleight of
hand rather than address the very real problems
faced by our citizens.
"It is a confession of inability
to deal with these concerns, refusal to consider
the needs of the nation, or simply, the PM and his
Government does not care."
She
added, "With regard to the war on drugs, this
is akin to 'pot calling kettle black'. This PNM
Government has the dubious distinction of having
refused to deal with crime in virtually every single
sphere," she said.
Trinidad Express
Friday, September 8th 2006
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