By RICHARD LORD

A Caricom delegation of three prime ministers plans to go to Washington soon to hold talks with US President George Bush on getting the US to change its position on the blacklisting of six Caricom countries, including Trinidad and Tobago, in the dispute over the International Criminal Court (ICC).

The Express understands that Prime Minister Patrick Manning is expected to be among the three PMs.

Foreign Affairs Minister Knowlson Gift said yesterday moves were being made to have a delegation of Caricom Prime Ministers go to Washington within the next six to eight weeks to meet with Bush on his decision to blacklist the six Caricom states because they refused to grant a waiver allowing Americans to be exempted from the jurisdiction of the ICC.

"I won’t be surprised if this meeting takes place within the next six to eight weeks," Gift told the Express yesterday. He said Caricom still had "some homework" to do but was confident the matter would be amicably resolved.

The US under former President Bill Clinton was one of the original signatories for the ICC, which was established on the initiative of Trinidad and Tobago’s former President Arthur NR Robinson.

The US has however withdrawn its support for the court and President Bush is insisting that the exemption be granted to US citizens.

The US last Thursday suspended military assistance to almost 50 countries, including the six Caricom states because they have supported the ICC and failed to exempt US citizens from possible prosecution.

The suspension covers international military education and training (IMET) funds, which mainly pay the cost of educating foreign officers at US institutions , and foreign military funding , which pays for US weapons and other aid.

The Express understands that three Caricom nations may be giving consideration to the waiver.

Questioned on this development, Gift said, without naming any country, that it was not too late for those countries to return to the wider Caricom position. He said that might be entirely possible in the wake of a likely meeting between Caricom and President Bush. "The door is not shut," Gift added.

Gift recalled that Caricom, at its meeting in Montego Bay, Jamaica, last week, agreed that "further consultation is urged, specifically through the International Court of Justice."

And he further noted that at a recent meeting of Caricom Foreign Ministers in St Vincent and the Grenadines, Trinidad and Tobago was very proactive on the matter.

He said this country submitted "some proposals" which "we believe contain, in essence, the need for some serious negotiation with the United States."

He added that it was necessary that Trinidad and Tobago and the Caribbean not be considered as "the backdoor to the United States and Canada" because "we are the gateway to the Americas."

Commenting on the US position of national interest in the matter, Gift said Caricom can also put forward the same argument to advance its case for unconditional support for the ICC. And he said the same national interest consideration can also be strongly rationalised by at least two reasons–the US energy sector, particularly since the Eastern seaboard of the US was a major market for T&T’s LNG , and the volume of the United States investment sector in Trinidad and Tobago.