Rowley on Jagdeo: We don’t always see eye to eye on issues

May 24, 2022 News

…but are obligated to conduct ourselves in a way that will benefit both countries

Kaieteur News – Prime Minister of Trinidad and Tobago (T&T), Dr. Keith Rowley has said that while he and Guyana’s Vice President Bharrat Jagdeo may not always agree on issues, they have a responsibility to conduct themselves in a fashion that would be beneficial to the peoples of both countries.

Vice President, Bharrat Jagdeo at the opening of the recently concluded Agri-Investment Conference

Dr. Rowley gave the frank response to Trinidad journalists after he was asked about the relationship he shares with Guyana’s Vice President in light of his recently public utterances regarding relations with the twin island republic.
According to Dr. Rowley, the relationship between T&T and Guyana “is probably now better than it ever has been.”
He was adamant that while in Guyana this past week, he spent a significant amount of the time with VP Jagdeo and “as far as he will tell you and I will tell you, we get along very well.”Dr. Rowley used the occasion to urge the journalists to not let other people’s comments and stories “lead you to come to conclusions that is otherwise.”
To this end, he quipped, “we may not see eye to eye on everything and that’s why they have four eyes between the two of us.”
He was adamant, nonetheless, “…certainly what we do have is responsibility to conduct ourselves in a way that will be of great benefit to the people of Guyana and T&T and the wider CARICOM.”
Earlier this year in March, VP Jagdeo had described the T&T economy as being in shambles and falling apart which led to a formal response from that country’s government.

T&T Prime Minister, Dr. Keith Rowley, during one of the sessions held for the recently concluded Agri-Investment Conference

VP Jagdeo during a press conference in March this year insisted his view represented irrefutable facts “which all are aware of.”
It was during a visit to the Essequibo Region in Guyana for a public outreach that the VP noted that Trinidad’s economy had been dependent on oil revenues for decades, and in the past few years, due to the economic shocks that have hit the global markets along with the country’s declining production, the TT economy has been “falling apart.”
At a subsequent press engagement, he told members of the domestic media corps, “I have tracked what’s going on in Trinidad and Tobago for quite a while and what I said there (in Essequibo) is not anything new.
He said at the time, “I have had discussions with several leaders there about a post oil and gas economy so this has nothing to do with Prime Minister, Dr. Keith Rowley, this is a fact; the economy over a long period grew to be dependent on oil and the danger of the Dutch disease has been pointed out and, practically, it has consequences for your country, and we have seen it happen in TT…”
Doubling down on his position, Jagdeo insisted that the people in T&T are losing jobs because of the fallout, and the country is suffering from currency shortages, “…so, what I am saying is not anything new… I don’t know if they have a problem with truth, but the fact of the matter is that the economy is undiversified and it relies heavily on oil and gas and when the prices fall, things start to fall apart and they are facing some of those consequences now.”