PM Rowley should have gone to Guyana

Rowley’s speech at the GECF Summit in Doha, Qatar, did nothing more than highlight his administration’s failure to manage our energy sector in an evolving global climate. Anyone who says otherwise has bought into the PNM propaganda.

While complaining about lost revenues due to transfer pricing, the PM seemed to have forgotten that both the EU and the IMF raised red flags concerning TT’s harmful base erosion and profit shifting (BEPS) and transfer pricing practices years ago.

His Finance Minister promised the EU in 2017 that BEPS would be fully dealt with. Their failure since then to deal with transfer pricing is, in no small part, why we are currently on the EU blacklist.

Following the Qatar Summit, we have received no statement from the PM about what dollar and cents benefits he was able to arrange.

Tell us, as Mottley did for Barbados, what are the tangible benefits from Doha? How many jobs? What investments in our ailing energy sector? Speeches alone don’t count in the harsh world of global energy relations, Prime Minister.

In Qatar he met with the President of the Islamic Republic of Iran, Dr. Seyyed Ebrahim Raisi to discuss the role of natural gas in the global energy landscape. What fruits did this bear? Or was it just for optics?

When PM Mia Mottley left Guyana, she left with thousands of jobs for Barbadians and commitments with both Guyana and Suriname to collaborate in boosting their economies through food production, tourism and exchange of natural resources.

Rowley majors in what the “Oxford Handbook of Modern Diplomacy” calls “Club diplomacy”, outside of his circle, he lacks status and authority.

Mia excels in Realpolitik diplomacy: tangible benefits from realistic, practical ideas.

Coming out of PM Mottley’s meetings in Guyana, Barbados will reap the following benefits:

1. Training and expanding crop and livestock production.
2. Establishing Barbados as a logistic hub to supply the Barbados market as well as regional and international markets.
3. Collaboration with Guyanese manufacturers in prefab houses and lumber supply.
4. Progress on Barbados’ commitment to training 6,000 Guyanese workers in hospitality.
5. Tourism co-branding where visitors from the European market have the opportunity to visit two destinations in one trip.
6. Collaboration in international transport
7. Discussions surrounding sand and limestone availability

In other words, Mia Mottley secured hundreds of millions of trade benefits from Guyana which will directly benefit her country’s economy.

After Rowley’s monotonous, dull and routine statement on TT’s crumbling energy sector on Tuesday, what trade benefits and relations were made with energy giants? What commercial interests were pursued for TT? Can we even list one? Or was it an all-expenses paid trip to save face for blanking Guyana’s Energy conference and sightsee around Qatar? An all-inclusive Qatar fete?

Rowley refused Guyana’s invitation, thus excluding us from the coordinated economic first world bloc being developed by Guyana, Suriname and Barbados.

It is about time he takes lessons from PM Mottley on visionary leadership and diplomacy. If not TT will continue on its inexorable path to global and CARICOM irrelevancy.

Mr. Rodney Charles
Member of Parliament for Naparima