Manning - file

Five CARICOM leaders met in Trinidad on Thursday to discuss matters relevant to the regional integration movement, according to an official statement issued Tuesday.

Prime Minister Patrick Manning played host to Guyana's President Bharrat Jagdeo, the newly-elected Grenada Prime Minister Tillman Thomas as well as St Vincent and the Grenadines Prime Minister Dr Ralph Gonsalves and St Lucia's Prime Minister Stephenson King.

The meeting will also be attended by the foreign affairs minister of Barbados, Chris Sinckler.

Thomas, who was elected on July 8, was making his first official visit to Port-of-Spain. But his two-day visit has been clouded in controversy following public criticism over the alleged extravagance of the visit.

Private jet

The Government took out full page advertisements regarding the trip and sent a private jet for Thomas and his delegation.

Information Minister Neil Parsanlal has defended the advertisements saying "It was designed to put information in the public domain that no other organisation in the country, not least of all the media, was prepared to put".

The ruling People's National Movement (PNM) has also called on the Trinidad Express newspaper to apologise to Manning after the paper ran a front page story headlined 'Mr Show Off'.

"The PNM notes with utter amazement, the attack on the government's right and responsibility for the provision of information on diplomatic initiatives and other matters of national importance by the front page story in the Sunday Express ... which deemed information provided on a neighbouring CARICOM partner a 'waste of public funds'."

PNM wants apology

"The PNM calls on the Express to apologise for its unfair, unbalanced and scurrilous attack on its leader," the party said noting that the Manning administration had been at the forefront of seeking to deepen the regional integration movement.

But Opposition leader Basdeo Panday has accused Prime Minister Manning of spending taxpayers' money to resolve "the bad blood" between the two leaders following remarks Manning had made recently in the United States regarding a coup to topple the then government of Dr Keith Mitchell.

"You don't use the people's money to solve your problems. Meet him privately and apologise. The PM (Thomas) is not going to be fooled," Panday said, adding that he agreed with criticism that the newspaper promotion was a waste of funds.

"There is no reason for it; the Grenadian PM certainly doesn't expect it."

Thomas told the media that he would not engage in "domestic politics".

"I don't know what all this controversy is about," he said, adding "that is domestic politics. I am not involved in the domestic politics of Trinidad and Tobago". Thomas said the visit would be beneficial to Grenada.

Benefits

"For instance, in the agro-processing industry, the energy sector, we believe we could benefit from Trinidad and Tobago. We want to have friendly relations with Trinidad and Tobago," he added.

He said yesterday's meeting would discuss the Manning initiative for a closer political union involving St Lucia, St Vincent, Grenada and Trinidad and Tobago.

"We're looking at the possibility of some sort of political (grouping) to strengthen the political union of the region. We have to look at the way the world is going (and) we need to strengthen the region as a block," Thomas added.