Despite concerns that the National Academy for the Performing Arts on Chancery Lane, Port-of-Spain, would not be completed in time for next month's Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting, (CHOGM), British High Commissioner Eric Jenkinson is optimistic all will go according to plan.
"It might not look so when you drive past it every day but I do think the Government, and particularly the Prime Minister, has put their weight behind it and I think it will be ready on time," said Jenkinson, in an interview before the start of yesterday's Port-of-Spain Rotary Club's weekly meeting at Goodwill Industries Limited, Wrightson Road, Port-of-Spain. Jenkinson said tackling climate change and the reform of the Commonwealth would be high on the agenda at the upcoming CHOGM.
He said: "The climate change debate is very important because days after CHOGM, there will be an important meeting in Copenhagen with all the world leaders. It will be nice to have a unified voice to go forward as it relates to climate change. Noting that the Commonwealth was 60-years-old, Jenkinson said there was need for reform "to make it more relevant" for the younger generation. He added: "It's about time we all looked at it and came up with ways to move it forward." Asked if T&T's escalating crime situation posed a problem for the staging of CHOGM, Jenkinson said crime was "not a matter of huge concern," as he was in "regular talks" with the police and National Security Minister Martin Joseph on the issue.
