AKASH SAMA­ROO

Lead Ed­i­tor – Pol­i­tics

For­eign and Cari­com Af­fairs Min­is­ter Sean Sobers says time con­straints, and not diplo­mat­ic ten­sions, is the rea­son why Prime Min­is­ter Kam­la Per­sad-Bisses­sar did not hold any bi­lat­er­al meet­ings with Cari­com lead­ers dur­ing the UN Gen­er­al As­sem­bly last week.

The PM will trav­el to Wash­ing­ton D.C. at 3 pm to­day, where she is sched­uled to meet US Sec­re­tary of State Mar­co Ru­bio.

Re­spond­ing to ques­tions about pos­si­ble fric­tion with Cari­com states fol­low­ing the Prime Min­is­ter’s UN ad­dress, T&T’s For­eign Min­is­ter dis­missed any sug­ges­tion of ten­sion.

Dur­ing her time in New York, PM Per­sad-Bisses­sar met with lead­ers from Kuwait, and the Unit­ed Arab Emi­rates, as well as Unit­ed Na­tions Sec­re­tary Gen­er­al An­tónio Guter­res.

No­tably, how­ev­er, she did not hold any for­mal talks with her Cari­com coun­ter­parts—all of whom were present at the Gen­er­al As­sem­bly.

Guardian Me­dia un­der­stands a planned meet­ing with Ja­maica’s Prime Min­is­ter An­drew Hol­ness did not take place.

Min­is­ter Sobers cit­ed sched­ul­ing chal­lenges as the cause.