Port-of-Spain will soon be transformed to the most modern city in the Caribbean and the largest conference centre in the region, boasts Prime Minister Patrick Manning.

Manning told T&T nationals in Washington, while on his trip to the US, of the major construction projects in progress in Port-of-Spain and of the Government’s ability to “set the stage for a solid economic base and the building of a solid economic platform for unprecedented socio-economic development.”

He said: “We proceed inexorably to developed nation status by the year 2020.”

Manning boasted that T&T was the world’s largest exporter of methanol and ammonia, the sixth largest exporter of Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) in the world and the largest supplier of LNG to the US.

He was speaking at a function hosted by the T&T Embassy at the Inter-American Development Bank Headquarters in Washington DC.

Manning also outlined details of several major development initiatives which have been undertaken by the Government, including the construction of a mass transit light rail system, the establishment of ethylene and polyethylene plants and the expansion of iron and steel production leading to the manufacture of flats and sheet metal.

He also spoke of a decline of the unemployment rate to five per cent in the last quarter of 2006.

Foreign Affairs Minister Arnold Piggott and Education Minister Hazel Manning also spoke.

The Prime Minister is in the US capital city for a gathering of Caricom foreign ministers and prime ministers to discuss trade and other economic issues.

Security also is prominent, with sessions scheduled on crime and violence as impediments to development and security co-operation between the United States and Caricom.

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