TRINIDAD - Persad-Bissessar welcomes planned talks with Jamaica

PORT-OF-SPAIN (CMC):

Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar has welcomed the move by Jamaica to hold talks on the issue involving the deportation of 13 Jamaican nationals, saying she had advised Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Dookeran to accept the invitation from his counterpart to travel to Kingston to discuss the matter.

"A letter ... of invitation was received from Jamaica and I have advised him to accept the invitation and to go to Jamaica and speak with his counterparts there," Persad-Bissessar said.

Dookeran later told the Caribbean Media Corporation (CMC) that he expects the meeting would take place as soon as all the necessary logistics are in place.

Earlier this week, Jamaica's Foreign Minister A.J. Nicholson said "the number of Jamaicans being returned from Trinidad and Tobago had generated considerable public outrage and had the potential to undermine confidence and diminish goodwill on the part of many Jamaicans towards Trinidad and Tobago and the wider regional integration movement.

"I believe that our personal intervention and collaboration can go a far way in bringing this issue to a speedy and successful conclusion," Nicholson said, adding "this is of the utmost importance as a regional integration movement which does and is perceived as protecting and advancing the interests of all sides is vital to the progress of our regional enterprise".