CARICOM SECRETARY-GENERAL CALLS FOR GLOBAL COOPERATION ON SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT

(CARICOM Secretariat, Turkeyen, greater Georgetown, Guyana) “International cooperation is now more than ever necessary for global sustainable development,” CARICOM Secretary-General, His Excellency Edwin Carrington said yesterday, May 27, 2009.

He was at the time speaking at the Ceremony for the Presentation of Credentials by His Excellency Tatsuaki Iwata, Plenipotentiary Representative of Japan to the Caribbean Community. The ceremony took place at the Headquarters of the CARICOM Secretariat, Georgetown, Guyana. With specific reference to climate change, Secretary-General Carrington said that the phenomenon represented “a significant threat” which had assumed greater importance in recent years.

“It is for our Community, an issue which goes to the heart of our very survival as Small Island Developing and Low Lying Coastal States,” he said. He added that both CARICOM and Japan had agreed that it was important for countries to achieve emissions reduction and economic growth, as well as the need to work faithfully towards climate stability.

The Secretary-General stated also that at the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Poznań, Poland, in December 2008, there was a clear commitment from the Members of the United Nations (UN) to shift into full negotiating mode in order to shape an ambitious and effective international response to climate change.

The CARICOM Task Force on Climate Change and Development is currently preparing to articulate the Region’s position for the impending 15th Conference of the Parties (COP 15) to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) set for Copenhagen, Denmark in December 2009. This is expected to complete negotiations for a new Climate Change Agreement to replace the 1997 Kyoto Protocol which expires in 2012.

Secretary-General Carrington welcomed the “active interest” shown by the Government of Japan towards the global dialogue on Climate Change and invited the support of Japan in the establishment of the Adaptation Fund.

Ambassador Iwata noted that while Japan and CARICOM differed in their positions on the levels of reduction of Green House Gas emissions, Japan was hopeful that an agreement would be reached “as soon as possible.” Bilateral relations between CARICOM and Japan have been on-going since 1993, and it has seen meaningful cooperation in the areas of disaster management, business and tourism development and agriculture.