Newspaper Article Misleading

Office of The Prime Minister

The Honourable Kamla Persad-Bissessar, SC, Prime Minister of the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago has taken note of an article headlined “What’s Wrong with Kamla using the new plane” which was published in the Express Newspaper dated May 5^th 2013.

The Prime Minister refutes any and all inferences and or suggestions contained in the said article about the purchase and/or usage of any aircraft from Canada.

During the Prime Minister’s official four day visit to Canada, at the invitation of the Prime Minister of Canada, the Right Honourable Stephen Harper, the Prime Minister and her Ministers actively explored opportunities for further engagement in identified areas such as energy, national security, trade, public sector modernization, maritime services and development planning systems.

This official visit was preceded by a visit of the Commanding Officer of the Trinidad and Tobago Air Guard to Canada.

Following these discussions the Governments of both Canada and Trinidad and Tobago issued a Joint Statement in which the leaders welcomed the open dialogue between both countries relative to the development, execution and implementation of projects in the field of defence, security, and related infrastructure.

The Prime Minister invites the media to reflect upon the said Joint Statement which is clear and unambiguous as to the nature of these deliberations. There has been neither a formal contract nor any other agreement between the parties and as such, any questions as to the purchase and or the usage of any aircraft do not arise.

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