So while we were unable to speak with the Minister of Tourism, the Minister of State for Finance did answer all our questions. The press asked about the expectation that the parties to the Portico Definitive agreement may have had - and how the Briceno administration now hopes to walk this back - after initially embracing all the way up to the Cabinet level:
Reporter:
"Sir, what do you expect from Portico, they have issued statements seemingly expecting that what was contained in that definitive agreement will stand, how do you negotiate with a company that is having that position?"
Chris Coye, Minister Of State In The Ministry Of Finance & Economic Development
"Well, I would refer you back to the practice or the experience, more so the experience of agreements under the past administration and agreements under the current PUP administration, under the past administration you had BTL, what ended up happening with BTL? We ended up under a settlement agreement with the past administration, paying over 600 million dollars for something that if it's worth 100 million it's worth a lot. That is the negotiation under the past administration, likewise, you have and I can you could continue down a list, likewise you had the agreement with the nature conservancy for the acquisition of hundreds of thousands of acres of land with wholesale tax exemptions being provided in that agreement full assignment of carbon credits under that agreement. We re-negotiated that so that we could get ten's of millions of dollars back into the government's coffers through property tax, amicably so with the Nature Conservancy so that ultimately we were able to work with the nature conservancy to sign a blue bond transaction that in itself had immense benefits for our country, that is how we negotiate. The October 2020 agreement of Portico was done under the UDP administration, that is how they negotiate. Let's see how we negotiate when it comes to this arrangement here."
