MINISTER of Foreign and Caricom Affairs Dr Amery Browne, in a statement on Saturday, assured that Trinidad and Tobago was not falling apart, as has been recently alleged by Guyana vice-president Bharrat Jagdeo who said TT was in trouble owing to a lack of diversification away from its oil and gas sector and that Guyana would not go down that path.
Last week, Jagdeo said a lack of diversification away from its oil and gas sector had caused TT's economy to crumble.
"Trinidad is falling apart, and that's putting it mildly - falling apart! No jobs, sustained periods of negative growth and can't see the light of day for the near future.'
After his statements were criticised, Jagdeo later doubled down on his position during a press conference on Friday, saying that a lot of Trinidadians agreed with him.
He said, 'I have tracked what is going on TT for quite a while and what I have said is not anything new. This has nothing to do with just Rowley, this is the fact of the economy in TT over a long period growing to rely only on one sector."
Suggesting that Guyana would not follow TT into economic ruin by failing to diversify, he said, "We are determined in Guyana to avoid going down that path."
Further, Jagdeo said, over the years, Guyanese nationals entering TT had been treated horribly and his government would not be bullied into making decisions about its economy.
He claimed TT citizens felt they had a "God-given right to displace Guyanese too, in our own country from our own resources." He said his govenment would not allow that to happen.
'I don't care who cuss me or what they cuss me for. We are not going to discriminate against Trinidadians, we want Trinidadian business to come here. But they have to come in partnership with our people. Their attitude has to change, we suffered a long time the indignity of this judgment of our people.'
The Prime Minister was asked to respond to Jagdeo's comments during a press conference at the Diplomatic Centre, St Ann's, on Saturday.
Dr Rowley said, "There are a lot of people in Guyana, and I am not really distracted by vice-president Jagdeo's comments about us. A lot of people comment about us, some favourably and some not. We will not be distracted by that.'
Browne, in his own statement also dated March 26, called no names but clearly referred to Jagdeo. He dismissed remarks by unnamed politicians in Guyana, as "arrogant, hostile and xenophobic."
Unlike a deningrating image being painted, Browne said TT nationals were among the warmest and most generous in the world.
He said while some mistreatment and holier-than-thou attitudes exist in every society, immigrants from Guyana, Jamaica, Grenada, Barbados and St Vincent and the Grenadines had done "extremely well" in TT.
He said many Guyanese had been able to remit money back to Guyana "over the generations and many continue to do so" but said TT's warmth and generosity toward Guyana went well beyond receiving its nationals seeking a better life.
"When the nation of Guyana needed it most, they
