What was the reason for the THA delegation travelling ahead of the national delegation, especially [Desk thumping] in light that this trip was sponsored for three (3) nights? Is there any specific reason why the THA’s delegation needed to travel between the periods that he would have indicated?

Chief Secretary.

Oh yes, thank you.

           Madam Presiding Officer, this was a national trip and for a national trip to an exposition that lasted well over one hundred and fifty (150) days, being led by the Trinidad and Tobago High Commissioner to London, there was no Tobagonian or no Tobago participation prior to Deputy Chief Secretary Duke and the team leaving. So there were Trinis that went before and returned (keep going and coming) and there are Tinis that remained there after this delegation. And the Executive Council felt that it could not be reasonable for there to be a national delegation, a national cultural delegation as well - no Tobagonian, no Tobago House of Assembly (THA) interest in the national cultural delegation, no TH A or Tobago reps prior to going, that we needed to give them at least one week so that they can have engagements with other players in the space, so that they do more than go and display Tobago goods; so that they can go and seek out other businesses including, but not limited to possible foreign direct investments for Tobago. And that was the reason why we added some additional days to the national VIP delegation. Because we were not just sending a VIP delegation - what we were sending was a delegation to actually represent Tobago and to seek Tobago’s interests in a short period of time, while Trinidad was seeking their own interests for hundreds of days. [Desk thumping]

Minority Councillor.