Prime Minister Dr the Right Hon. Keith Mitchell is in Washington DC, along with fellow Caribbean Heads of Government and their delegations, are attending the first ever Caribbean Energy Security Summit, an initiative of the United States Department of State.
Prime Minister and his fellow Heads are expected to participate in a full schedule of meetings under the auspices of United States Secretary of State, Hon. John Kerry, including a breakfast meeting, during which the Secretary of State is expected to outline the Obama administration’s views on Climate Change and the plans regarding a new Climate Change agreement, scheduled to be signed in Paris in December, 2015.
The Caricom Member States will also be hosted by Hon. Joseph Biden, the Vice President of the United States, who will deliver the keynote address in the afternoon meeting sessions on Monday, 26 January.
Other participants in those meetings include the Presidents of the World Bank, the Inter-American Development Bank, and senior officials of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the Organization of American States (OAS), Caricom, the Caribbean Development Bank (CDB), the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA), as well as senior representatives of the governments of Canada, Germany, Mexico, New Zealand, Spain, the United Kingdom and the European Union and others.
It is anticipated that hundreds of participants from the United States government, private sector and civil society will also attend the afternoon panel discussions.
Prime Minister Mitchell will have the opportunity to engage the United States high level officials one on one, to discuss, among other things, the way forward for the partnership and MOU signed late last year between the United States and Grenada governments to have Grenada be the Pilot for an Energy initiative of the USA.
The Caribbean Energy Security Summit is a pioneering component of the Caribbean Energy Security Initiative that Vice President Joe Biden announced in June, 2014.
Grenada’s Ambassador to the United States, Dr Angus Friday, is accompanying Prime Minister Mitchell to the meetings.
In the absence of Dr Keith Mitchell, who returns to Grenada late Monday, Hon. Gregory Bowen will Act as Prime Minister.
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