Hopes for airline repair centre in T&T By SATEESH MAHARAJ Trinidad Express A new agreement between Trinidad and Tobago and Costa Rica could lead to the establishment of a regional airline repair and maintance centre at Piarco International Airport. This was stated by Works and Transport Minister Arnold Piggott with the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding between this country and Costa Rica. Piggott said: "Costa Rica prides itself of having a very good repair and maintenance capability for domestic and other aircraft." He added: "We can explore the possibility of using the expertise of Costa Rica to develop that kind of business opportunity here at Piarco." Piggott said: "We have extra ramps at Piarco at the old terminal. Those ramps can be put to use. This (aircraft maintenance) could be managed by the state, groups of airlines or by some new set of entrepreneurs who might see it as a viable option for engaging in new business activity at Piarco." Piggott said: "We can have aircraft from around the region flying into Piarco to be serviced and repaired. This would generate employment and training for a large block of our people in the airline industry." Ambassador of the Republic of Costa Rica, Carlos Echeverria, said that the different aspects of tourism in this country needed to be developed. He said: "Trinidad and Tobago has a lot of potential in developing eco-tourism. Trinidad does not have a nice strategy because (this island) caters more to business tourists. Tourism is more important to Tobago than Trinidad." He said: "You (Trinidad) market sun and beach. You have the opportunity to market adventure tourism, eco-tourism, culture tourism. We do it in Costa Rica." Echeverria said that since the September 11 terrorist attacks in the United States, the percentage of tourists coming to his country has risen. He said: "We grew four per cent after September 11." Ambassador Echeverria noted that Costa Rica, unlike this country, does not have a national airline. He added that this country exports more to Costa Rica than it imports from the Spanish speaking territory. He estimated that Trinidad and Tobago exports US$5 million a year to Costa Rica.Piggott said that further interaction between the two countries was highly possible. The owner of Roger's Trinbago Site: Roj (Roger James) *************************************************** escape email mailto:ejames@escape.ca Trinbago site: http://www.tntisland.com CBC Website http://www.tntisland.com/caribbeanbrassconnection/ The Trinbago Site of the Week: (MBH) http://maracasbay.com/ (Maracas Bay Hotel) courtesy of Roj Trinbago Website & TnT Web Directory Roj's Trinbago Website: http://www.tntisland.com TnT Web Directory: http://search.co.tt *********************************************************