Queen Elizabeth to open Commonwealth Summit in Trinidad
The Commonwealth Summit is being held for the first time in this region. It opens Friday in Port of Spain, Trinidad where the Fifth Summit of the Americas was held earlier this year. Head of the Commonwealth, Queen Elizabeth is already in Port of Spain and is being joined by leaders from the fifty-three member states. The presidents of France and Brazil, countries that are aspiring for membership in the body, will also attend. The Belize delegation includes Prime Minister Dean Barrow and Minister of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade, Wilfred Elrington. Channel Five will bring you the opening ceremonies at eight o’clock Friday morning, immediately following Open Your Eyes and will have continuous reports from Port of Spain. News Five, via our Caribbean counterparts at CMC, has the following report on the highlights of the meeting.
Gordon Moseley, Reporting, Capital News 9, Guyana
“The meeting, which coincides with the sixtieth anniversary of the Commonwealth will focus heavily on climate change and will serve as the first real test with regard to how committed some nations are in dealing with the effects of climate change and how best the developed countries will be able to provide assistance to the lesser developed ones. CARICOM will make known its concerns here at a meeting of CARICOM states putting forward recommendations of how best several issues of importance to their citizens can be addressed. But climate change will not be the only issue to be discussed at the Commonwealth meeting. Youth development is already being given special attention. A youth forum has been underway here at the meeting bringing together over four hundred young people from across the world to discuss the problems which affect them the most and have those problems made known to their leaders. Then there’s the people’s forum; a collection of non-governmental organizations meeting and discussing human rights, poverty, economic health and other issues. That forum was declared open by Trinidad’s Prime Minister Patrick Manning.”
Stay tuned to this station for updates on the Commonwealth Summit beginning with the opening by Queen Elizabeth.
