Prime Minister Patrick Manning says he hopes an arrangement could be reached at next month's Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting in T&T on the issue of climate change.
Manning said this while addressing yesterday's Mock Chogm at the Hyatt Regency Hotel in Port-of-Spain. Secondary students, representing Commonwealth leaders debated the issue of climate change in the mock debate. Manning said Chogm was the last summit conference in which world leaders would be attending before the UN climate conference in Copenhagen, Denmark from December 7 to 18. "There is an opportunity for these countries–meeting around the table–perhaps to hammer out some kind of arrangement that can be used to bring about an agreement in circumstances in which the prospects of that are becoming more and more dim," Manning said yesterday. "Only time will tell," Manning added.
Earlier, Manning said the Commonwealth includes nations which were the largest emitters such as the UK, New Zealand and Australia and also some countries that were most vulnerable to climate change. Manning said climate change was much more than an academic issue. "It is not that some people are trying to make life difficult for the developmental aspirations of others, but it has to do with the configuration of the entire globe in years to come, who is going to survive and who is not going to," Manning added. Manning said he was confident the hosting of Chogm in this country next month would be very successful as the country had learnt a lot from its hosting of the Fifth Summit of the Americas last April. He said the most significant achievement of the Summit of the Americas was the spirit of co-operation. He said he expected the country to attract many investments as a result of hosting Chogm.
