Friday, November 20 2009

FRENCH PRESIDENT Nicolas Sarkozy, Denmark Prime Minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen and United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon’s participation at next week’s Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) in Port-of-Spain will send “a strong political statement” to next month’s UN Climate Change Talks in Copenhagen, Denmark.

Foreign Affairs Minister Paula Gopee-Scoon expressed optimism at yesterday’s post-Cabinet news conference, one day after Prime Minister Patrick Manning announced the trio would be attending the CHOGM.

“What I see emerging with all of the heightened interest of heads outside of the Commonwealth. What we see coming out of it is a strong political statement which certainly will be meaningful to take forward on behalf of all of these countries,” she said. While it would be ideal, Gopee-Scoon said it was difficult to predict what the outcome of CHOGM’s climate change deliberations would be. Gopee-Scoon also said Cabinet yesterday approved the draft national policy paper on climate change which Planning, Housing and the Environment Minister Dr Emily Gaynor Dick Forde will give details about at a later date.

Disclosing that she will represent this country on the Commonwealth Ministerial Action Group (CMAG), Gopee-Scoon said it would be up to the CMAG to determine whether Gambian President Dr Yahya Jammeh’s recent statements breached the Harare Declaration and if any action should be taken. The Harare Declaration outlines the Commonwealth’s fundamental principles. The CMAG, formed in November 1995, assesses the nature of infringements against the Declaration, and recommends measures “for collective Commonwealth action.”