Bush,
Manning meet today to talk security
By Andy Johnson
Trinidad Express
Washington
Petroleumworldtt.com
06 24 07
A MEETING this morning at the US State Department
involving Prime Minister Patrick Manning and other
Caricom Heads of Government and US President George
W Bush is the highlight of the three-day conference
on the Caribbean which opened at the World Bank
headquarters yesterday.
The US president will have with him his Secretary
of State, Condoleezza Rice. Those talks are bound
to centre on such matters as security and the need
for greater mutual co-operation between the US
and Caricom. With international terrorism now having
taken on a distinctly Caribbean dimension, issues
of mutual assistance are expected to feature prominently.
At
a recent congressional hearing on terrorism and
counter-terrorism,the performance of the security
network established for the International Cricket
Council's Cricket World Cup in the Caribbean in
March and April came in for high
praise.
Moves to cement some of the measures put in place
for that event and to establish areas for wider
co-operation will also be discussed. This will
include mechanisms for security information exchange
on persons travelling in and through the region.
At
a forum in Port of Spain on energy and energy
security in June last year, Manning had complained
out loud about what he said was an absence of response
on a proposal he made to US officials about trade
preferences from the US for security and reliability
of energy supplies.
While
little was found in the way of determining the
actual status of this proposal, it is expected
that the issue will be raised again here this week.
Apart
from the direct meeting with Bush and his team,
the conference was scheduled to hear
positions from a panel on "Energy for Competitiveness''
yesterday afternoon. Jamaica Foreign Minister
Anthony Hylton was listed as one of
two main speakers. The other is Samuel Bodman,
US Secretary for Energy. Andrew Jupiter, a former
Permanent Secretary in the Trinidad and Tobago
in the Ministry of Energy was among the
panellists for the discussion arising from those
presentations. Jupiter is now chairman of the Caricom
Task Force on Energy.
Manning
will also be one of two speakers addressing
a session this afternoon at the Experts'
forum on "Security and Development'' which
will look at the issue of "Security
and Competitiveness in a Global Environment''.
His
wife Hazel, the Minister of Education, is
scheduled to speak this morning on one of
two sessions dedicated to the quest for "Quality
and Equity in Social Development.''Â She
is one of two speakers listed to present
on a number of questions raised under the broad
theme of education. Such inquiries as how
to better integrate education with labour market
demands; development of congruent teacher certification
standards and accountability for learning
outcomes are to be addressed here.
"US-Caribbean Trade: Opportunities for Growth'',
is the main theme of the session scheduled for
this morning also, involving participants in the "Private
Sector Dialogue''.
Answers will be sought to such questions as what
are the main trends in bilateral trade flows, how
do Caricom exporters perform in the US, the importance
of current US trade preferences for Caricom exporters,
protection for Caricom trade and services products
in US markets and the scope of expansion for bilateral
trade links.
Trinidad
Express
Wednesday, June 20th 2007
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©2007 Trinidad Express. All Rights Reserved.
