Trade Minister Paula Gopee-Scoon is calling on the private sector to do more for the country as it faces a difficult economic situation.
Last week, Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley harshly criticised the CEO of the T&T Business Chamber for not doing enough for the country.
"Corporate citizens ought to be doing much more. The question for corporate citizens is what can they do for the country. This is a difficult time in our economy, so they have to take up the slack. They are all going to make a profit and their bottom-lines will still reflect a profit. If they want to leave a trail, it is at this most difficult time that corporate citizens are called upon to do more like not sending home employees," she told the media on Saturday on the Brian Lara Promenade, Port-of-Spain.
Trinidad Cement Company (TCL) employees carried out a cleaning exercise of the Brian Lara promenade where they used disinfectant and power washed the Promenade, and Gopee-Scoon was present.
Gopee-Scoon was accompanied by Guillermo Rojo, the general manager of TCL/Cemex, and Port-of-Spain Mayor Joel Martinez.
She said the statistics show that the country has done well to keep the COVID-19 rates low and added that Port-of-Spain is a clean city but there is also room for improvement.
Martinez said corporate citizens have done their part over the years but sometimes they forget that the City of Port-of-Spain belongs to everyone.
Last year, he asked businesses in Port-of-Spain to contribute to the maintenance of the Promenade.
"We cannot maintain the promenade on the monies that we collect as a corporation. This Promenade can look fantastic. We want corporate citizens to step up. Each corporate citizen can take a different area like St James, Belmont, and so on."
Rojo said that Cemex has done similar cleaning exercises around the world and despite financial constraints, they want to give back to T&T.
"We came out of the pandemic and suffered a lot but we are here to stay in the long run. Cemex/TCL is a T&T company as all our employees are T&T nationals. We export cement all over and bring in foreign exchange. We are here to remain for a long time,” he added.