At a press conference on November 20, to report on the inaugural Saudi Arabia-Caricom Summit, which took place in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, the Prime Minister lashed out at critics who condemned his acceptance of air travel by the Saudi Arabian Government.
Rowley said Saudi Arabia sent two private jets to fly Caricom heads to the Middle East.
One jet came to Barbados to transport Caricom leaders from the Southern Caribbean, such as TT, Grenada and Suriname. The other jet came to Miami to transport leaders from Jamaica, Belize, etc.
The Saudis also footed the bill for their accommodation.
Rowley said this does not mean there was any “sellout” in accepting transport from the Saudis for the Saudi Arabia-Caricom summit.
“If the Saudis openly and transparently provide transport to us, we don’t sell ourselves short to be concerned about any Opposition’s position (that) because we accept transportation to a meeting in this way, that we somehow would compromise our national position. But I’ll expect them to say that because you see if that’s what you are, then clearly you’ll think others are like that,” he said.
The acceptance of air transport from the Saudi Arabian Government is quite normal and acceptable, as some well-to-do host countries offer air transport to visiting heads of governments in accordance with established diplomatic courtesies and protocols.
In January 2012, during a state visit by Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar, the Government of India provided an Airbus A320 aircraft to transport her and her entourage to various parts of India.
Governments heads, particularly from developing countries, travel on official business using commercial airlines and via third-country connections that significantly increase the travelling time. For example, a trip from TT to Curacao using commercial airlines via Miami would take approximately ten hours. On the other hand, a direct flight will take approximately an hour and 30 minutes.
In the past, TT prime ministers used the Air Guard Fairchild Metroliner C26 fixed-wing aircraft to travel to destinations in the Eastern Caribbean.
On one such flight from Barbados to Trinidad and Tobago with Prime Minister Patrick Manning and Trade and Industry Minister Kenneth Valley on board, the aircraft went into an uncommanded dive due to a technical issue, falling several thousand feet before the pilots were able to recover control.
After that incident, Manning began to travel using a chartered executive jet owned by a local conglomerate.
This columnist was one of the people who recommended to Manning that the government should acquire an executive jet for use by senior government officials.
The proposal made to Manning was for the aircraft to be operated by CAL. When not required for use by the TT government, it could be leased to other Caricom governments on a cost recovery basis and to corporate entities on a commercial basis.
After evaluating several executive jets, Manning expressed a preference for the Bombardier luxury Global XRS ultra-long range jet
