PORT-OF-SPAIN, Trinidad (CMC):

Prime Minister Patrick Manning on Tuesday launched a scathing attack on the United States, saying it was neglecting the socio-economic development of the Caribbean.

But in an immediate response, United States Ambassador to Trinidad and Tobago, Dr. Roy Austin, said that Washington had never deliberately neglected this country or the region since it considers them as its allies.

He said he could only view Manning's statement that Port-of-Spain was considering reducing the export of Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) to the United States as a strategic move, and would forward a copy of the Prime Minister's speech to the relevant authorities in Washington.

Port-of-Spain exports about 70 per cent of its LNG production to the United States.

Manning told the meeting that the United States was also ignoring the pleas of the Caribbean for help in coping with tough competition from more developed nations, noting that since the third border initiative which would have given the Caribbean some degree of preferential treatment fell through, nothing had replaced it and there was no indication that anything would be done.

Ignoring the Caribbean

"We seek to leverage our energy resources in the cause of national development. It would have been nice if I could have said today that this is recognised in the United States of America. We don't know that it is recognised in Washington at all, in fact we believe that Washington had been studiously ignoring the Caribbean and ignoring the requirements of Trinidad and Tobago."