Prime Minister Dr. Ralph Gonsalves has described the\nsituation as troubling after five CARICOM Leaders met with U.S President Donald\nTrump to discuss issues which are already being discussed with one voice by the\nregional grouping, CARICOM.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He made this statement during an interview on the\nOMG Radio program on BOOM Radio hosted by Dwight \u201cBing\u201d Joseph, on Monday March\n25th<\/sup> following last Friday\u2019s meeting of the five Caribbean Heads of\nGovernment with United States President, Donald Trump.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The\nleaders who met with President Trump are: Haitian President Jovenel Moise, St\nLucian Prime Minister Allen Chastanet, Bahamas Prime Minister Doctor Hubert\nMinnis, President of the Dominican Republic Danilo Medina and Jamaican Prime\nMinister Andrew Holness. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Prime Minister Gonsalves says there was no true\nrepresentation of CARICOM at last Friday\u2019s meeting because Chairman of CARICOM,\nPrime Minister of St Kitts and Nevis Dr. Timothy Harris was not invited to the\nmeeting.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The Prime Minister adds that none of the countries\nrepresented at the meeting were members of the CARICOM advisory committee which\ncomprises Prime Minister of Barbados Mia Mottley, Trinidadian Prime Minister Dr.\nKeith Rowley or Prime Minister of St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Dr. Ralph\nGonsalves.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Gonsalves said none of the countries at the meeting\ncan speak on behalf of CARICOM because there is a mechanism which has to be\nfollowed when dealing with matters of the regional grouping.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The Prime Minister adds \u201cI think that is entirely\ncounter-productive by President Trump and in the case of CARICOM it makes no\nsense because these countries which went there can\u2019t speak for CARICOM and they\ncertainly can\u2019t speak for St. Vincent and the Grenadines and we have a position\nin terms of CARICOM, it\u2019s as simple and straight forward as that\u201d. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Prime Minister Gonsalves says he was not invited to\nthe meeting but if he was invited he would have declined the invitation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n He states \u201cThere are politicians in the United States running away from President Trump, I must run to him? Come on! Its not that I belittle his position, he is an important leader, leader of the most important country in the world but you don\u2019t just run to people because they invite you\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The Prime Minister says the countries which were\ninvited to the meeting have been voting with the United States at the OAS on\nthe matter of Venezuela while the regional grouping CARICOM has already stated\nits stance on the matter.<\/p>\n\n\n\n He said \u201cClearly President Trump is trying to\nhandpick persons who are of a similar persuasion to him and of course to avoid\nthe mechanism which has been set up by CARICOM\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Prime Minister Gonsalves however reaffirmed that \u201cThe\nUnited States of America is a good Friend of St. Vincent and the Grenadines and\nwe have good relations\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n He also adds that \u201cWe have good relations with the\nUnited States but that doesn\u2019t mean that because you have good relations that\nif a leader calls you to attend something and you consider that that would not\nbe within the interest of CARIOCM or that it sets about dividing CARICOM unnecessarily\nthat you will politely say no, no not this\u201d.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Prime Minister Dr. Ralph Gonsalves has described the situation as troubling after five CARICOM Leaders met with U.S President Donald Trump to discuss issues which are already being discussed with one voice by the regional grouping, CARICOM. He made this statement during an interview on the OMG Radio program on BOOM Radio hosted by Dwight<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":1434,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[5,2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3208","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-local-news","category-news"],"yoast_head":"\n