Although France is not a member of the Commonwealth of Nations, the country’s President Nicolas Sarkozy arrived in Trinidad and Tobago as a special guest of Prime Minister Patrick Manning with the express purpose of mobilising support for a united front at the Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen, December 7th to 18th.


The COP15 conference is the fifteenth conference of the parties under the United Nations climate change convention and will take place in the Bella Centre in Copenhagen

COMMONWEALTH ESSAY COMPETITION WINNERS ANNOUNCED
 
The National Secretariat for the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting 2009 and the Royal Commonwealth Society are delighted to announce the winners of the CHOGM 2009 Trinidad and Tobago Commonwealth Essay Competition.
 
The winners were announced at the conclusion of the Commonwealth Youth Forum, which was attended by the Honourable Patrick Manning, Prime Minister of the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago.

Launched in September 2009, the Competition asked local students to “Write a letter to a visiting Commonwealth Leader about what Trinidad and Tobago can teach the world”.

Head of the Commonwealth, Her Majesty the Queen Elizabeth II joined the chorus of voices at the official opening of the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) 2009 calling for consensus on the issue of climate change.

Her Majesty told the leaders that on the eve of the UN Copenhagen Summit on Climate Change “…the Commonwealth has an opportunity to lead once more.” The French President, Nicholas Sarkozy and Denmark’s President Lars Rasmussen, non-Commonwealth members, will join the leaders and delegations from the 53-member association in hopes of forming a common position on the matter.