PRIME MINISTER LEADS ON CLIMATE CHANGE DISCUSSIONS AHEAD OF COP 16

St. George, January 28, 2010 --  Grenada has continued its leadership in the fight to secure a legally binding agreement on climate change.

This was central to discussions earlier today when Prime Minister Hon. Tillman Thomas met with Mexico’s Special Envoy for Climate Change, Ambassador Luis Alfonso De Alba, at the Mexican Embassy in New York.
 
Prime Minister Thomas expressed his desire for a more binding agreement on global emissions when world leaders meet in Mexico between November 29th and December 10th, 2010.
 
Prime Minister Thomas and the Mexican Special Envoy agreed, like other members of the Alliance of Small Island States (AOSIS), that the Copenhagen Summit last December, fell short of concretely addressing their concerns on limiting global gas emissions and slowing down the warming of the planet.
 
“There must be recognition that for some of us small island states, global warming is a threat to our economic development and to a greater extent our survival. We also must agree on ways of making the Green Fund, as agreed to in Copenhagen a tool for helping small states mitigate against the effects of climate change,” the Prime Minister said.
 
The Mexican Special envoy outlined his government’s support for the AOSIS position and sought Grenada’s ideas on the way forward in preparation for the 16th meeting of the Convention of Parties or (COP) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, in the Mexican tourist resort of Cancun.
 
“We believe that discussions on the issues that can be agreed prior to the meeting should continue so that participants to the meeting come prepared to make the required commitments,” the Mexican Special Envoy said.
 
Ambassador De Alba said his government will engage all parties to bring clarity on some of the critical issues facing the climate change debate. He sought Grenada’s support in highlighting the areas of concern as Mexico prepares to assume chairmanship of the UN meeting in November.