Manning misses Margarita summit
Trinidad
Guardian
Port
Spain
Petroleumworldtt.com
04 22 07
ON THE BRINK of his departure for Margarita to
attend a two-day Latin American energy summit—which
started yesterday—as the special guest of
Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, Prime Minister
Patrick Manning was forced to cancel the trip.
A
release from Whitehall said the Venezuelan Foreign
Minister sent a diplomatic note to T&T’s
Foreign Minister Arnold Piggott on Sunday, “indicating
that the Venezuelan authorities were unable to
successfully finalise appropriate arrangements
for the attendance of T&T at the Energy Summit
of Heads of State/Government.”
Efforts
to clarify just what this meant were unsuccessful,
as communications staff at the PM’s Whitehall
office, who wrote and issued the release, referred
the Guardian to the Foreign Ministry.
A source at the ministry speculated that although
Manning would have been a special guest of Chavez,
his attendance at the summit might have had to
get the agreement of the Secretariat of the South
American grouping on time for him to attend.
The
release added: “The concurrence of all
the members of the group which is co-ordinated
by the Secretariat, could not be organised in time,
resulting in the inability of T&T to attend.”
Manning
and the Foreign Ministry had set heavy store
on the trip, Piggott describing it as “critical” to
this country’s interests.
Briefing
journalists last Thursday at the weekly post-Cabinet
press conference, Piggott said the
summit was “intended to formulate strategies
for a regional energy policy, development of joint
projects such as the Amazonian gas pipeline and
deal with issues of energy stability with South
America and its neighbours.
“It is important for T&T to keep apace
with developments in the region in this sector...
so that participation by T&T is critical as
we seek to play a role in policy formulation.”
To avoid any suggestion of a slight to Manning,
Whitehall added:
“The
diplomatic note emphasised that a country from
Central America to whom a special invitation
was extended, will also not be attending for similar
reasons.”
A source insisted that there was no setback in
the increasingly warm relations between Port-of-Spain
and Caracas.
Manning was given the special invitation by Chavez
during a visit to Caracas last month.
Ethanol production is enjoying high priority on
the agenda at the summit, because of a controversy
over the fuel.
Brazil is a pioneer in the use of ethanol made
from sugar cane to power cars.
Chavez is at odds with his Brazilian counterpart
Luiz Ignacio Lula da Silva over the scale of ethanol
output in developing countries.
Venezuela
is the region’s only member of
the oil producers’ cartel OPEC, and is seeking
to extend his influence throughout the hemisphere
by selling oil on concessionary terms.
Brazil recently signed an alliance with the US
to promote ethanol production.
Lula has rejected criticism from Chavez and Cuban
President Fidel Castro that the use of ethanol
as a biofuel would use up valuable, arable land
and increase food prices.
“All South American countries and Africa
can easily produce oil seeds for biodiesel, sugar
cane for ethanol and food at the same time,” Lula
said on his weekly radio programme.
Welcoming the leaders to Venezuela, Chavez said
increased economic co-operation was needed as a
counterweight to US power in the region.
“We are, above all, South Americans,” he
said in a BBC story. “We should put all efforts
into creating the great homeland that is South
America.”
Also on the agenda for the two-day meeting is
a proposed continental bank to rival institutions
like the International Monetary Fund and plans
to build a 5,000-mile natural gas pipeline between
Venezuela and Colombia.
Though
unable to attend the meeting, Whitehall said
the technical teams appointed from Port-of-Spain
and Caracas were continuing their work to finalise
the terms of the memorandum of understanding in
preparation for Chavez’ impending visit to
T&T.
Trinidad
Guardian
Tuesday 17th April, 2007
Copyright
©2007 Trinidad Guardian. All Rights Reserved.
