Opposition Leader Dr Keith Rowley has been reportedly blanked from State functions to be held in honour of President of China Xi Jinping, who arrived in T&T last night. Public relations officer of the PNM, Faris Al-Rawi, at a press conference on Thursday, said as far as he was aware, Rowley was not invited to any of the events, including a State banquet to be held tomorrow. Xi’s visit comes days after the visit by United States Vice-President Joe Biden.
Al-Rawi said as a result of this, Rowley left on Wednesday night to go to Tobago for the long weekend. “He (Rowley) was not invited to any of the events concerning the president of China. He received an invitation by fax from the President’s office yesterday (Wednesday), but he had already left for Tobago so he went on his business,” Al-Rawi added.
He said Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar knew about Xi’s visit “for a very long while” and Rowley was not invited because this was the way in which the United National Congress operated. “If this is the way they chose to run the State that’s entirely up to them...We expect nothing from them, ” he said.