T&T
cautious on PetroCaribe
Port Spain
Petroleumworldtt.com
01 13 08
The
Government believes that any discussion regarding
T&T signing on to the PetroCaribe arrangement
must take into account this country’s status
as a major energy producer in the region, Energy
Minister Conrad Enill said yesterday.
“In so far as joining PetroCaribe, we have
taken the view that any energy discussion in the
western hemisphere really and truly needs to have
T&T as a central part of it given the importance
of T&T to the energy equation,” he said
during the post-Cabinet news conference at Whitehall
in Port-of-Spain yesterday.
“Therefore, in that context, any discussion
at any level about energy, T&T is seen as a
natural part of it... So that the call by many
for T&T to be involved in PetroCaribe is simply
a reflection of the realities of the importance
of T&T in the energy dynamic.”
Enill
made the statement while responding to a question
about Venezuela President Hugo Chavez’ recent
call for T&T to sign on to the arrangement.
Enill
said Prime Minister Patrick Manning had already
stated the Government’s position
on the matter.
“You would recall the Prime Minister saying
on a number of occasions that T&T supports
the whole question of the Free Trade Area of the
Americas (FTAA)—that configuration—and
PetroCaribe was a different configuration,” he
told reporters.
Story
by Corey Connelly from The Trinidad
Guardian
The
Trinidad Guardian
Friday
11th January, 2008
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