Commonwealth leaders reach consensus on climate change

By Paras Ramoutar, Port of Spain, Nov 29: Ahead of the conference on climate change in Copenhagen in December, a team of leaders at the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) here said that a consensus has been reached on the issue.

The document titled, "The Port of Spain Climate Change Consensus: The Commonwealth Climate Change Declaration" was unfolded before the media Saturday at the International Financial Centre here.

The document calls for urgent and substantial action to reduce global emissions of carbon dioxide. It fully endorses a proposal by French President Nicolas Sarkozy and British Prime Minister Gordon Brown for the establishment of a USD 10 billion climate fund for the small countries to reduce carbon dioxide emissions. From this, Trinidad and Tobago and India, among several other Commonwealth countries, could benefit.

On Friday, President Sarkozy said he had met Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and urged him to attend the Copenhagen meeting.

Among those present at the media briefing here were Trinidad and Tobago's Prime Minister Patrick Manning, Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd, Denmark's Prime Minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen, United Nation's Secretary General Ban ki Moon, and Commonwealth Secretary General Kamalesh Sharma.

Rudd said that the Port of Spain Consensus was "...significant and substantial".