New chair of the Commonwealth T&T Prime Minister Patrick Manning says Commonwealth leaders should not be pessimistic about possible successes on the issue of climate change. "Ours is the last international summit before Copenhagen next month to deal with this critical matter. We must not be the victims of any pessimism on the outcome of this meeting," he said. Manning spoke at the formal opening ceremony for the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting at the National Academy for the Performing Arts, Queen's Park Savannah East, Port-of-Spain yesterday. It was formally opened by Head of the Commonwealth, Queen Elizabeth II.
Manning said the Commonwealth should form a united position on how to proceed with this matter: "In this way, the Commonwealth in Port-of-Spain in November could ensure success for the UN in Copenhagen in December." He said in his capacity as chair, he invited French President Nicolas Sarkozy, Denmark Prime Minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen and UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon to attend the meeting which concludes tomorrow. There remains widespread doubt over any likely success at next month's UN Climate Change Conference in Denmark as countries remain divided on the issue, experts have said. Manning said there remained a need for a new level of international partnership for climate change and other challenges facing the world to be successfully addressed.
He said the leaders of the Caribbean Community (Caricom) have already held a special regional summit on climate change. "We will like our colleagues to support the convening of a special summit on this issue–a proposal made by T&T at the recent General Assembly held in September this year," Manning said. "Global partnership must also focus on the small and vulnerable states of the world. The plight of these countries has been made even more acute by the present problems, more than empathy is required. The Commonwealth must continue its exemplary efforts to ensure the adoption by the wider global community of its own approach to these countries.
"Middle income countries are also challenged (and) given their vulnerabilities the need must not be under estimated for access to concessionary financing."
The T&T Prime Minister said developing countries could no longer be left behind. "Partnering for a more equitable and sustainable future is clearly an imperative, not just for the Commonwealth but for the entire national community," he said. "This partnership must extend to all areas of global concern. We must therefore join efforts to combat the emerging threat of non-communicable diseases, which by 2020 will account for about 73 per cent of global deaths and 60 per cent of the global burden of diseases." Manning thanked the G20 countries for the role they were playing in order to prevent a recurrence of the global financial crisis.
