St Vincent PM wants meeting on fuel subsidy

KINGSTOWN, St Vincent — Prime Minister Dr Ralph Gonsalves says he wants to engage in discussions, not a fight, with Trinidad and Tobago over the fuel subsidy Port-of-Spain provides to its national carrier, Caribbean Airlines (CAL). Gonsalves said he has now received a legal opinion on the matter and is now seeking the talks with the Kamla Persad-Bissessar-led coalition People’s Partnership administration. Gonsalves contends that the fuel subsidy given to CAL contravenes the treaty governing the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) to which both countries belong. St Vincent and the Grenadines, Barbados, Antigua and Barbuda and Dominica are the main shareholders of the regional airline, LIAT, and Gonsalves, who is chair of LIAT shareholder governments, said the legal opinion supports his view that the subsidy contravenes the Revised Treaty of Chaguaramas. LIAT has in the past complained that it is put at a disadvantage because of the fuel subsidy provided to CAL.