00:00Trade Minister Paula Gopiskun believes the conversations surrounding Indian
00:04businessman Naveen Jindal are in essence much ado about nothing.
00:09So I've noticed what I could only describe as hullabaloo in the national
00:14press about Mr. Jindal's presence in Trinidad and Tobago and I want to say
00:20that we welcome Mr. Jindal to our country. It's very disappointing that the
00:26opposition would seek to make mayhem over the visit of someone who can really
00:32help us in Trinidad and Tobago by investing in our country. It comes as
00:37Prime Minister Dr. Keith Rowley held a meeting at the Diplomatic Center with
00:41Jindal who is chairman of Jindal Steel and Power Limited over the Petrotrin
00:47refinery. Subsequent to that allegations of corruption against the billionaires
00:53surrounding mining kickbacks have been brought to the fore cited in a 2013
00:58Forbes report. This is what the minister has to say on the matter. In the course
01:03of the life of any business you would have challenges, legal challenges. That's
01:08the nature of business. You enter into contractual arrangements. Contractual
01:13arrangements are not necessarily all smooth. It's the reason why you have
01:19these cadre of lawyers and attorneys who can prepare to deal with such matters. So
01:25therefore to assign that level of attention on one minor issue is really a
01:34wonder to us. She says the country should instead be focusing on welcoming
01:39investors. Gopi school is taking the United National Congress to task for its
01:44pronouncements on the matter. Opposition leader Kamala Prasad Bisesa has
01:49questioned if it was Venezuela that made a link between Jindal and the
01:54government and if Jindal is the intermediary for the two parties. And it
01:59tells you that instead of welcoming people to our country, the opposition
02:04perhaps is seeking this to destroy High Commissioner of TNT to India. Dr Roger
02:10Gopal says the prime minister worked hard at attracting investors from India
02:15across different sectors during his visit to New Delhi. Dr Gopal is of the
02:20opinion that Dr Rowley's engagement has been extremely transparent. As for
02:26Jindal, Mr Jindal is a member of Parliament of the certain government of
02:34India, the Bharatiya Janata Party under Prime Minister Modi. And secondly, the
02:41media could easily find any information on the work that Mr Jindal is doing
02:47globally. And I'll leave it at that. Alicia Boucher TV six News
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