T&T Prime Minister dismisses opposition call

Trinidad and Tobago’s Prime Minister Patrick Manning has dismissed an opposition call for a referendum on regional integration.



The Basdeo Panday-led United National Congress Alliance made the call last week, following news that Trinidad had signed a declaration with a number of Eastern Caribbean states to establish an economic and political union.



Manning said the People’s National Movement (PNM) has never subscribed to referenda and that this is not likely to change.



He said the government would be holding national consultations on the proposal to have Trinidad and Tobago, Grenada, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, and St. Lucia enter into a Caribbean Single Economy by 2011, and to have political integration by 2013.