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| Chief Secretary Orville London, right, in discussion with Sir Henry Forde, leader of the Barbados technical team to discuss the fish stock in Tobago's waters. |
Both Chief Secretary Orville London and the head of the eight-member Barbados team Sir Henry Forde agreed that the meeting was a very important step in arriving at an arrangement to determine the stock.
London said all Tobagonians were heartened and relieved that the discussion held at the Mt Irvine Bay Hotel was taking place. "We all have got to recognise that this is a historically sensitive issue which has been potentially volatile and therefore we have a responsibility to treat with the issue with the necessary sensitivity for the discussion to go beyond the technical level," London said.
London said he was also heartened that the discussion included technical people and scientists that were going to look at the situation as objectively as possible and treat with the first phase of what hopefully would be a successful round of discussion which eventually lead to some meaningful negotiations.
He said it was common sense that "you cannot negotiate until you know what is there" and therefore the emphasis at this point in time with the fish stock assessment allowed for the discussion to continue in a manner where there was a resolution that was reasonable acceptable.