Veep arrives in Trinidad and Tobago
By Victor Hachimbi
in Port of Spain
VICE-PRESIDENT George Kunda has arrived in Port of Spain, the capital city of Trinidad and Tobago to attend the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) which officially opens this Friday.
Mr Kunda and his entourage arrived at Piarco International Airport last evening at 22:40 hours local time aboard a British Airways plane . His wife Irene, Foreign Affairs Minister Kabinga Pande, Central Province Minister Ackimson Banda and senior private secretary in the office of the Vice-President, Kenneth Ngosa accompanied him.
On hand to receive the Vice-President at the airport were high ranking government officials from the host country, Zambian High Commissioner to Britain Royson Mukwena, Deputy High Commissioner to Canada, Nedson Nzowa and other senior Government officials.
Meanwhile, the Prime Minister of Trinidad and Tobago, Patrick Manning has said he is optimistic this week’s CHOGM could overcome the pessimism surrounding next month’s united Nations Climate Change talks in Denmark.
He was speaking at the opening ceremony of the Commonwealth People’s Forum at Queen’s Hall yesterday.
Mr Manning said as chair of CHOGM, Trinidad and Tobago was working with other nations to attain a position that was strong enough to advance the process toward a global agreement on the critical matters affecting all of humanity.
He said the fact that the United Nations Secretary-General, Ban Ki-moon and other world leaders outside the Commonwealth such as the French President, Nicolas Sarcozy and Danish Prime Minister, Lars Rasmussen were attending CHOGM is an indication of the intensity of the efforts on climate change.
Mr Manning underlined the need to tackle climate change, saying a recent UN Summit of World food security had found that there was an escalation of starvation and malnutrition in the world.
And Commonwealth Secretary-General, Kamalesh Sharma hailed the role of civil society, saying it was one leg of a three-legged stool comprising the Government and the business sector. —ZANIS
