Port Of Spain – Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley Wednesday reiterated the friendly relations between Trinidad and Tobago and Barbados as he brushed aside opposition efforts to paint a picture of disharmony between the two Caribbean Community (CARICOM) countries.
“Madam Speaker, I am concerned about any attempt to give the impression that there is bacchanal between Trinidad and Tobago and Barbados on this and any other matter and I have given the assurance that our relationship between Trinidad and Tobago and Barbados is as good now as it ever was,” Rowley told Parliament as the controversy surrounding the decision of his administration not to re-open the airport to allow stranded Trinidadians in Barbados to return home.
Bridgetown lastFriday issued a statement in which it said that it was “deeply disturbed” by a jab made by Trinidad and Tobago’s Minister of National Security Minister Stuart Young who suggested the Mia Mottley administration failed to respect the twin-island republic’s border policies in its handling of the situation involving the 33 Trinidadians who had been stranded there for a month.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade described Young’s comments as “regrettable”, as it stressed that Barbados had gone through all the appropriate channels to get the group home. They returned to Trinidad and Tobago on Wednesday after testing negative for novel coronavirus (COVID-19).
Last week, Young told a virtual media briefing that while Trinidad and Tobago had closed its borders as one of its measures to prevent the spread of COVID-19, citizens overseas and other non-nationals were using a particular Caribbean Community (CARICOM) nation as “a jumping point” to get into the country. He did not name the country but said that Rowley had instructed Foreign and CARICOM Affairs Minister Dennis Moses to write to that country’s government.
Young had also urged the unnamed country not to allow its “good offices to be used by those who wish to compromise our current border measures”.
Responding to questions by opposition United National Congress (UNC) legislators for clarity on the situation between Bridgetown and Port of Spain, Rowley said notwithstanding the efforts of some, “I want to say . . . that what we did in Trinidad and Tobago is to make it very clear to our very friendly and loving neighbour that we have a situation which we have clarified for them in that Trinidad and Tobago’s borders are closed and therefore we will not be in a position to accept any and every attempt to come to Trinidad and Tobago via another airport. . . .”
Rowley said that if every attempt to come into the island “via another airport . . . we might as well open Piarco (International Airport).
“That has been made very clear Madan Speaker and I give you the assurance it is very well understood and we go forward in brotherly love. That doesn’t seem to please some people, but the relationship between Trinidad and Tobago and Barbados will not be damaged by these efforts”.
But Opposition legislator, Rodney Charles, said he wanted the prime minister to indicate “what steps are being taken to arrest the growing anger in Barbados among its citizens against a statement made by the Honourable Minister and actions against our own citizens in Barbados”.
But Rowley replied saying ‘all attempts to fuel growing anger among the population of Barbados have failed and failed miserably.
“The vast majority of the people of Barbados have no difficulty with the people of Trinidad and Tobago. And Madam Speaker if there is a difference of opinion and a difference of interpretation . . . because of the nature and strength of our relationship it poses no threat to our relationship, notwithstanding the best efforts of underminers in and out of this country”.
Asked to give an interpretation of the letter by the Minister of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade in Barbados that he is “distressed by your actions and comments of the Minister,” Rowley responded by saying “distress comes in a variety of ways and in international diplomacy distress is replaced by love and affection”. (CMC)
