Gail Alexan­der

Se­nior Po­lit­i­cal Re­porter

The costs for Prime Min­is­ter Kam­la Per­sad-Bisses­sar’s ten-plus-mem­ber del­e­ga­tion, which par­tic­i­pat­ed in the Unit­ed Na­tions Gen­er­al As­sem­bly 2025 in the Unit­ed States last Sep­tem­ber, in­volved a to­tal air­fare cost of $147,000 and a to­tal non-ac­count­able al­lowance cost of $914,970 for the en­tire del­e­ga­tion.

Those costs along with those for the trip to Wash­ing­ton and an event in NY all added up to $1.2 mil­lion.

This was stat­ed in a writ­ten re­ply cir­cu­lat­ed in the Sen­ate yes­ter­day. The re­ply came in re­sponse to ques­tions from Op­po­si­tion Sen­a­tor Dr Amery Browne to the Prime Min­is­ter.

Browne had asked about Per­sad-Bisses­sar’s over­seas trav­el for the pe­ri­od Sep­tem­ber 22 to 30, 2025 and for her to iden­ti­fy the par­tic­i­pants com­pris­ing T&T’s del­e­ga­tion to the UN­GA 2025; pro­vide par­tic­u­lars of all costs as­so­ci­at­ed with the trav­el and par­tic­i­pa­tion of the in­di­vid­u­als and a de­tailed break­down of the costs as­so­ci­at­ed with the host­ing of the T&T di­as­po­ra event in New York which was at­tend­ed by the Prime Min­is­ter.

Browne al­so want­ed to know those ac­com­pa­ny­ing the Prime Min­is­ter from New York to Wash­ing­ton DC and the costs as­so­ci­at­ed with that leg of the trip.

The Prime Min­is­ter’s writ­ten re­ply stat­ed, “Sen­a­tor Browne is well aware that it is not unique for a Prime Min­is­ter to lead the T&T del­e­ga­tion to the UN­GA. In fact, in 2023, for­mer prime min­is­ter Kei­th Row­ley led the del­e­ga­tion to the UN­GA in New York at a to­tal cost of over TT$ 1.1 mil­lion. This cost is greater than the cost of par­tic­i­pa­tion at the 2025 UN­GA meet­ing as de­tailed here­un­der.”

The in­for­ma­tion in the re­ply stat­ed that the Gov­ern­ment par­tic­i­pat­ed in the High-Lev­el Week of the 80th Reg­u­lar Ses­sion of the UN­GA and re­lat­ed meet­ings, New York, from Sep­tem­ber 22-30, 2025.

It stat­ed that aside from the PM, at least 11 oth­er in­di­vid­u­als, along with sup­port­ing staff, com­prised T&T’s del­e­ga­tion to the UN­GA 2025, in­clud­ing Min­is­ters Sean Sobers, Sad­dam Ho­sein and Bar­ry Padarath, along with Par­lia­men­tary Sec­re­tary Nicholas Mor­ris.

Oth­er in­di­vid­u­als who al­so trav­elled from T&T to the US to sup­port the Gov­ern­ment’s par­tic­i­pa­tion at the UN­GA were the Prime Min­is­ter’s per­son­al as­sis­tant, Com­mu­ni­ca­tions Con­sul­tant in the For­eign Af­fairs Min­istry, Saa­da Singh and two Spe­cial Branch po­lice of­fi­cers.

The in­for­ma­tion stat­ed that the par­tic­u­lars of all costs as­so­ci­at­ed with the trav­el and par­tic­i­pa­tion amount­ed to $147,000 for air­fare for the en­tire del­e­ga­tion and the cost of non-ac­count­able al­lowances for the del­e­ga­tion at $914,970.

The re­sponse al­so gave a break­down of costs for the host­ing of the T&T di­as­po­ra event in New York that the Prime Min­is­ter at­tend­ed at US$9,872 (TT$ 60,000), which in­clud­ed US$1654.50 for food and pay­ment of US$300 for Rik­ki Jai to per­form.

NY to Wash­ing­ton trip US$14,184

The re­ply gave in­for­ma­tion on in­di­vid­u­als ac­com­pa­ny­ing the Prime Min­is­ter on her trav­el from New York to Wash­ing­ton, DC, dur­ing the pe­ri­od.

They in­clud­ed Min­is­ters Sobers, Padarath, Ho­sein, Par­lia­men­tary Sec­re­tary Mor­ris, and five oth­ers.

The cost as­so­ci­at­ed with the trav­el to Wash­ing­ton from Sep­tem­ber 29-30, 2025, was US$14,184.00 (TT$ 96,000).

This com­prised the re­turn trav­el from New York to Wash­ing­ton DC (by train)—US $8,979.20 and ho­tel ac­com­mo­da­tion at US$5,204.80.

Del­e­ga­tion to UN­GA

Prime Min­is­ter Kam­la Per­sad-Bisses­sar

For­eign and Cari­com Af­fairs Min­is­ter Sean Sobers

Pub­lic Util­i­ties Min­is­ter and Min­is­ter in the Of­fice of the Prime Min­is­ter, Bar­ry Padarath

Min­is­ter of Le­gal Af­fairs and Min­is­ter in the Min­istry of Agri­cul­ture, Land and Fish­eries, Sad­dam Ho­sein

Per­ma­nent Sec­re­tary and Head of For­eign Ser­vice, Min­istry of For­eign and Cari­com Af­fairs, Ran­dall Karim

Am­bas­sador Ralph Maraj

Chief of Pro­to­col, Min­istry of For­eign and Cari­com Af­fairs, An­dria Nar­i­nesingh

Par­lia­men­tary Sec­re­tary, Of­fice of the Prime Min­is­ter Nicholas Mor­ris

Per­son­al Ad­vi­sor to the Prime Min­is­ter, Of­fice of the Prime Min­is­ter, Suan­jali Per­sad

Di­rec­tor, Mul­ti­lat­er­al Re­la­tions Di­vi­sion, Min­istry of For­eign and Cari­com Af­fairs, Garvin Pet­ti­er

Di­rec­tor, Amer­i­c­as Di­vi­sion, Min­istry of For­eign and Cari­com Af­fairs, Jen­ny Thomp­son

Per­ma­nent Rep­re­sen­ta­tive Per­ma­nent Mis­sion of T&T to the Unit­ed Na­tions, New York, Am­bas­sador Neil Parsan

Diplo­mat­ic Staff of the Per­ma­nent Mis­sion of T&T to the Unit­ed Na­tions, New York