PM Kamla has role in TT for retiring Caricom SG

Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar has hinted broadly at a future role for retiring Caricom Secretary General Edwin Carrington.

“There is a place for Mr. Carrington, and his services will be utilised,” Persad-Bissessar said Friday night at a Republic Day event. She stressed that Trinidad and Tobago needs Mr. Carrington’s services.

She was speaking at a function organised by Dr Harold Robinson, Consul General of Trinidad and Tobago to New York, and attended by some 300 Trinidad and Tobago and Caribbean nationals.

In an address at the function Carrington thanked Persad-Bissessar “for what she has brought to the table, not only for Trinidad and Tobago, but for the entire region.”

He said Commonwealth leaders who are attending the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) in New York have been keen to meet Persad-Bissessar.

He said he is “extremely pleased” by the Prime Minister’s vision with respect to integration issues.

Carrington said although he is retiring from the Caricom post, he is still committed to regionalism.

He stated: “There is no cause more rewarding than integration of Caribbean people.” He said the process has been difficult, but he has given his “professional life to that journey.”

Carrington has served as Caricom Secretary General since 1992.

Persad-Bissessar told the function that Trinidad and Tobago has achieved much in every sphere and is an example to the world.

She stated that this year Trinidadians and Tobagonians endorsed the principles of integrity, accountability, transparency in public life, progress and development.

She spoke of some of the success of her People’s Partnership administration and called upon citizens to recommit to the principles of republicanism.

The Prime Minister said there is need for citizens to “strive together to overcome our various problems of poverty, crime and other social shortcomings.”

The function was also addressed by Grenadian Prime Minister Tillman Thomas and Trinidad and Tobago's Foreign Affairs Minister Dr. Surujrattan Rambachan.

After the formal aspect, Ms. Persad-Bissessar was swamped with requests from many of the guests to pose for photographs with her. She readily obliged.

Ken Ali | New York