Trinidad and Tobago’s hosting of the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting in Port of Spain in November will help develop tourism and business in the country, Commonwealth deputy secretary Mmaeskgoa Masire-Mwamba has said.

For those who questioned the Government’s decision to spend millions of dollars on the CHOGM at a time of major national budgetary cutbacks, Masire-Mwamba said that the money spent will lead to tourism, business investment and other benefits for Trinidad and Tobago.

Commenting on other local developments, she said there is a process through which national issues in all Commonwealth member states, such as the controversy surrounding an allegation made against Prime Minister Patrick Manning by the leader of the Jamaat Al Muslimeen, could be placed on the agenda of the meeting of a special Ministerial group.

Masire-Mwamba said on Friday, however, that: ’Trinidad and Tobago is not on that footpath at the moment’, with regard to the agenda of the Commonwealth Ministerial Action Group (CMAG) meeting.

The meeting takes place ahead of the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) in late November in Port of Spain.

Masire-Mwamba made the comment during a news conference Friday at the Trinidad and Tobago International Financial Centre (TTIFC) in Port of Spain.

She was asked if the Commonwealth Secretariat was monitoring developments coming out of Justice Rajendra Narine’s order that Jamaat leader Yasin Abu Bakr’s affidavit which alleges he struck a deal with Manning during the 2002 general election campaign be forwarded to the Acting Director of Public Prosecutions and Acting Police Commissioner.

Attorney General John Jeremie criticised Narine’s order in the Parliament last Monday and said there was no truth to Bakr’s claim and the courts had previously found the affidavit to be irrelevant.

Masire-Mwamba said she was not in a position to answer the question on Narine’s order.

’But on a sidebar I would really assure you that for all of our members in the Commonwealth there is a process that is chaired by the Commonwealth Ministerial Action Group (CMAG) whereby issues that are happening at a national level could become on the agenda of the CMAG but that’s a process and Trinidad and Tobago, is not part, is not on that footpath at the moment,’ Masire-Mwamba said.

Trinidad and Tobago will become a member of CMAG after the CHOGM.

Masire-Mwamba arrived at the TTIFC after she met with Manning and Foreign Affairs Minister Paula Gopee-Scoon during an official visit to this country last week concerning preparations for the CHOGM.

She was joined at the news conference by CHOGM national coordinator Ambassador Luis Rodriguez who gave assurances that sound security measures will be in place for the CHOGM.

When asked if Trinidad and Tobago’s high levels of crime were a cause of concern for the Commonwealth Secretariat, Masire-Mwamba said: ’The whole element of arrangements that have been made for the leaders and that have been made for the summit, that is the area of our engagement and that is the area that the national secretariat has gone to lengths to ensure that the security provisions and security arrangements are in place.’