BRIDGETOWN, Barbados - IF ever there is a puzzle between Barbados and Trinidad and Tobago, it has to do with the exceptionally long delay for the two countries to conclude a fishing agreement. Is it likely therefore that that there will ever be one? Last week the Prime Minister Freundel Stuart spoke on the matter which has been ongoing for well over 20 years.
Mr. Stuart told the House of Assembly that while his Government had produced a draft agreement on a fishing accord with Trinidad and Tobago, Barbados is awaiting a concrete response on it from Port of Spain. The failure therefore to bring an agreement to fruition had not been for lack of trying, Mr. Stuart said during debate on the Estimates of Revenue and Expenditure for the financial year 2013/2014. It has been eight years since their Maritime Boundaries Dispute had more or less paved the way for an agreement, yet there is still no finality to that.