Gail Alexan­der

Se­nior po­lit­i­cal re­porter

While the Sau­di Ara­bi­an gov­ern­ment fa­cil­i­tat­ed the air trav­el and ac­com­mo­da­tion for all at­ten­dees at last No­vem­ber’s Cari­com-Sau­di Ara­bia Sum­mit, the T&T Gov­ern­ment in­curred ex­pen­di­ture as­so­ci­at­ed with re­turn flights to Bar­ba­dos - and the ex­pen­di­ture as­so­ci­at­ed with Prime Min­is­ter Dr Kei­th Row­ley in­volved a to­tal cost of $38,375.40.

This was con­firmed in a writ­ten re­ply from the Prime Min­is­ter to an Op­po­si­tion ques­tion that was cir­cu­lat­ed in Par­lia­ment last Fri­day.

The T&T Gov­ern­ment par­tic­i­pat­ed in the first Cari­com-Sau­di Ara­bia Sum­mit and Trinidad and To­ba­go-Sau­di Ara­bia Bi­lat­er­al Meet­ings in Riyadh, Sau­di Ara­bia, from No­vem­ber 16-19, 2023.

Prime Min­is­ter Row­ley had sub­se­quent­ly said the Sau­di gov­ern­ment had sent two jets to trans­port Cari­com lead­ers from var­i­ous parts of the re­gion to Sau­di Ara­bia. One jet was sent to Bar­ba­dos to trans­port Cari­com lead­ers from the South­ern Caribbean, such as T&T, Grena­da and Suri­name. An­oth­er jet was sent to Mi­a­mi to trans­port lead­ers from Ja­maica, Be­lize, et cetera.

Last Fri­day, the writ­ten re­ply to the ques­tion on the trip stat­ed that for the event, the del­e­ga­tion, which was head­ed by the Prime Min­is­ter, com­prised:

For­eign and Cari­com Af­fairs Min­is­ter Dr Amery Browne

En­er­gy Min­is­ter Stu­art Young

Agri­cul­ture Min­is­ter Kaz­im Ho­sein

Caribbean Air­lines chair­man Shameer Ron­nie Mo­hammed

Di­rec­tor, Africa, Asia, Mid­dle East and the Pa­cif­ic (AAMEP) Di­vi­sion Min­istry of For­eign and Cari­com Af­fairs - Bruce Lai

Pro­to­col and In­ter­na­tion­al Re­la­tions Of­fi­cer, Of­fice of the Prime Min­is­ter - Kirk Fran­cois

For­eign Ser­vice Of­fi­cer II Min­istry of For­eign and Cari­com Af­fairs - Saschele Grif­fith

Deputy Press Sec­re­tary, Of­fice of the Prime Min­is­ter - Ab­by Brath­waite

TTPS (Se­cu­ri­ty Of­fi­cer) - Julius Fran­cois

TTPS (Se­cu­ri­ty Of­fi­cer) - Fe­lix Stephen

The re­ply al­so stat­ed that the Sau­di Ara­bi­an gov­ern­ment fa­cil­i­tat­ed the air trav­el and ac­com­mo­da­tion for all at­ten­dees at the sum­mit.

It al­so stat­ed, “How­ev­er, the Trinidad and To­ba­go Gov­ern­ment in­curred ex­pen­di­ture as­so­ci­at­ed with re­turn flights to Bar­ba­dos. The ex­pen­di­ture as­so­ci­at­ed with the Prime Min­is­ter was as fol­lows:

Air­fare - $ 2,806.00.

Al­lowances- $23,205.00

Con­tin­gen­cies - $12,364.40

To­tal Cost - $38,375.40.”

The re­ply stat­ed that the agen­cies/de­part­ments of the State that par­tic­i­pat­ed in the Cari­com Sau­di Ara­bia Sum­mit were:

Of­fice of the Prime Min­is­ter

Min­istry of For­eign and Cari­com Af­fairs

Min­istry of En­er­gy and En­er­gy In­dus­tries

Min­istry of Agri­cul­ture, Land and Fish­eries

Caribbean Air­lines Lim­it­ed

T&T Po­lice Ser­vice

The re­ply al­so said that ex­pen­di­ture as­so­ci­at­ed with each agency/de­part­ments of the State was as fol­lows:

Of­fice of the Prime Min­is­ter

Air­fare in­clu­sive of that paid for the Prime Min­is­ter - $8,418.00

Al­lowances in­clu­sive of that paid to the Prime Min­is­ter - $46,795.00

Con­tin­gency - $12,364.40

To­tal Ex­pen­di­ture - $67,577.00

Min­istry of For­eign and Cari­com Af­fairs

Air­fare - $8,418.00

Al­lowances - $38,185.00

To­tal Ex­pen­di­ture- $46,603.00

Min­istry of En­er­gy and En­er­gy In­dus­tries

Air­fare - $2,806.00

Al­lowances - $14,595.00

To­tal Ex­pen­di­ture - $17,401.00

Min­istry of Agri­cul­ture, Land and Fish­eries

Air­fare - $2,806.00

Al­lowances - $14,595.00

To­tal Ex­pen­di­ture - $17,401.00

T&T Po­lice Ser­vice

Air­fare - $ 5,612.00

Al­lowances - $23,590.00

To­tal Ex­pen­di­ture - $29,202.00

Caribbean Air­lines Lim­it­ed

Air­fare - $621.00

Al­lowances none

To­tal Ex­pen­di­ture - $621.00