PRIME MINISTER HARRIS TO ATTEND LATE PRIME MINISTER PATRICK MANNING’S FUNERAL ON SATURDAY

BASSETERRE, ST. KITTS, JULY 7TH, 2016 (PRESS SEC) – Prime Minister Dr. the Honourable Timothy Harris this Saturday will attend the State Funeral of the Honourable Patrick Manning, who served as Trinidad and Tobago’s Prime Minister from December 17th, 1991 to November 9th, 1995 and from December 24th, 2001 to May 26th, 2010. Mr. Manning died last Saturday, July 2nd as a result of acute myeloid leukemia.  He would have turned 70 years old on August 17th, 2016.

Prime Minister Manning was the longest-serving member of the House of Representatives, having represented the San Fernando constituency for the People’s National Movement (PNM) from 1971 up until his retirement from politics in February 2015.  Mr. Manning served as political leader of the PNM from 1987 to 2010.

Last Saturday, the Prime Minister of St. Kitts and Nevis extended condolences to Prime Minister Manning’s wife, Hazel, and their two sons, Brian and David, and other loved ones, as well as to the government and people of Trinidad and Tobago.  Dr. Harris also noted that Trinidad and Tobago and the Caribbean have suffered a great loss.

In a statement issued last Saturday in response to Mr. Manning’s death, the Secretary-General of CARICOM, Ambassador Irwin LaRocque, said that, “As Lead Prime Minister for Security in the CARICOM quasi-cabinet, Mr. Manning engineered the formation of the CARICOM Task Force on Crime and Security.  Its recommendations broadened the scope of co-operation within the Community in that area resulting in Security Co-operation being adopted as the fourth pillar of our integration movement.”

In a February 14th, 2007 Communiqué, issued after the 18th Inter-Sessional Meeting of the Conference of Heads of Government of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) held in St. Vincent and the Grenadines from February 12th to 14th, the CARICOM Secretariat notified the people of the Caribbean that, “The Conference has recognised Security as the fourth pillar of the Community, given its ever-increasing importance and its cross-cutting and fundamental nature. The Conference also agreed that steps should be taken to formalise this decision in the context of a revision of the Revised Treaty.”  CARICOM’s other three pillars are trade and economic integration, foreign policy relations, and functional cooperation.

On Monday, July 4th, 2016, the CARICOM Heads of Government, at the start of the Opening Ceremony for their 37th Regular Meeting in Georgetown, Guyana, observed a moment of silence for Mr. Manning.  The next day, after the first plenary session of the 37th Regular Meeting, Prime Minister Harris signed CARICOM’s Condolence Book in tribute to the late Prime Minister whose State Funeral will be held this Saturday, July 9thfrom 10:00am at the Cathedral Church of the Holy Trinity in Port of Spain, Trinidad.

Public viewing of the body of Prime Minister Manning is taking place today, Thursday, July 7th, at the South Campus of the National Academy for the Performing Arts (NAPA) from 10:00am to 6:00pm, and again tomorrow, Friday, July 8th, at the North Campus of NAPA from 10:00am to 6:00pm.

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