Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
09PORTOFSPAIN460
2009-11-19 20:29:00
UNCLASSIFIED//FOR OFFICIAL USE ONLY
Embassy Port Of Spain
Cable title:  

CLIMATE CHANGE TO HEADLINE COMMONWEALTH MEETING

Tags:  PREL KGHG KSUM EINT TD 
pdf how-to read a cable
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UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 PORT OF SPAIN 000460 

SENSITIVE
SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PREL KGHG KSUM EINT TD
SUBJECT: CLIMATE CHANGE TO HEADLINE COMMONWEALTH MEETING

PORT OF SP 00000460 001.3 OF 003


SENSITIVE BUT UNCLASSIFIED; PLEASE PROTECT ACCORDINGLY



UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 PORT OF SPAIN 000460

SENSITIVE
SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PREL KGHG KSUM EINT TD
SUBJECT: CLIMATE CHANGE TO HEADLINE COMMONWEALTH MEETING

PORT OF SP 00000460 001.3 OF 003


SENSITIVE BUT UNCLASSIFIED; PLEASE PROTECT ACCORDINGLY




1. SUMMARY: Trinidad and Tobago hosts the 21st biennial
Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) November 27-29 in
Port of Spain, with several related forums beginning as early as
November 20. Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Phillip are to pay a
state visit just before the event, and the Queen, as head of the
Commonwealth of Nations, will deliver the keynote address at the
opening ceremony to be attended by some fifty heads of state,
foreign ministers, and other invited guests.




2. Climate change is expected to dominate discussions, with the
Danish Prime Minister confirmed to attend along with UNSYG Ban Ki
Moon and French President Sarkozy. Spanish President Zapatero may
also attend, and Brazilian President Lula has been invited but has
not confirmed. Prime Minister Manning has implored citizens to be
patient with any disruptions caused by CHOGM and he and his Cabinet
have been asserting that economic and political benefits will
accrue to Trinidad due to its hosting the event. END SUMMARY.



PRELUDE TO COPENHAGEN

--------------




3. The theme of CHOGM 2009 is "Partnering for a more Equitable and
Sustainable Future," and climate change is expected to be high on
the agenda. Deputy British High Commissioner Geoff Patton told us
November 18 that Danish Prime Minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen has
confirmed his participation in a climate change retreat scheduled
for November 27, as a prelude to the United Nations Climate Change
Conference taking place in Copenhagen December 7-18. United
Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon's attendance is seen as
important to this year's CHOGM, Patton said, because adding his
voice to a consensus of the 53 Commonwealth leaders would represent
"the rest of the world's population." Patton said that while a
CHOGM 2009 general statement has already been circulated and is
mostly ironed out, it is very possible that a separate joint
statement on climate change will also be released. Separately, one
resident High Commissioner told us last week that the GOTT was
resisting such a separate statement.



GUESS WHO'S COMING TO DINNER

--------------





4. A state visit by Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Phillip is to
take place November 26 -- her Majesty's third such visit to
Trinidad and Tobago -- and the Queen, as titular head of the
Commonwealth of Nations, will offer the keynote address at the
opening session for heads of government on Friday, November 27.
Patton confirmed November 18 that British Prime Minister Gordon
Brown will attend some of the leaders' events, but will likely be
on the ground for no more than 50 hours. Patton also confirmed
that French President Nicolas Sarkozy accepted an invitation to
attend some of the events, noting that the French Embassy,
surprised by the late invitation and acceptance, was scrambling to
obtain credentials since France is not a member of the Commonwealth
and had not been part of the CHOGM planning process. Prime
Minister Manning told the nation in a televised address November 18
that Sarkozy, Rasmussen and Ban Ki Moon would attend CHOGM as
special guests, and his special assistant told the Charge on
November 14 that Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva had
also been invited but had not confirmed. A Commonwealth high
commissioner told Charge November 19 that Spanish President
Zapatero is also likely to attend, which the GOTT hopes will
encourage Lula's participation. We're told the president of China
sent his regrets.

PORT OF SP 00000460 002.3 OF 003


SECURITY IN PLACE

--------------




5. Unlike the wide security perimeter put in place for the April
Summit of the Americas that closed a large swath of downtown Port
of Spain and required passes for residents and those with business
within the zone, CHOGM security will be focused on event venues and
specific movements, reducing the number of street closures and,
according to security operations managers, minimizing public
disruptions. Views of security arrangements differ among our
contacts, with some believing they are adequate and others stating
chaos lurks below the placid surface.



EVENTS

--------------




6. A Commonwealth Ministers Action Committee (CMAC) is planned for
Wednesday, November 25, followed by a foreign ministers meeting on
Wednesday and Thursday, November 25-26. Foreign ministers are
expected to discuss human rights issues, and in particular, the
plight of internal refugees in Sri Lanka and the recent suspension
of Fiji from the Commonwealth after military leaders there failed
to announce a timeline for democratic elections. After the
official opening session and heads of government plenary on Friday,
November 27, three heads of government retreats are planned for
Friday and Saturday, November 27-28, covering youth,
sustainability, and climate change. We're told the climate change
retreat will occur on November 27 to accommodate President
Sarkozy's schedule. Rwanda's application to join the Commonwealth
will also be considered, as well as other pending membership
actions.




7. Three public forums will also be held during CHOGM. The
Commonwealth Youth Forum begins November 20 and is designed to
teach young people about the Commonwealth's values and to provide
youth a platform from which they may submit statements to the CHOGM
delegations and secretariat. The People's Forum will meet November
22-26 to bring together civil society actors on eight themes,
including human rights, environment and climate change, health and
HIV/AIDS, democracy and governance, and innovation. Some 800
participants are expected for the Business Forum November 23-26
including the prime ministers of Trinidad and Tobago and Barbados,
and Nobel Prize winning economist Joseph Stiglitz. Themes of the
business forum include managing climate change, considering new
global financial infrastructures, and developing equitable trading
practices.



PROTESTS

--------------




8. Unions and civil society actors in Trinidad and Tobago have
announced demonstrations and work stoppages during a five-day
period leading up to CHOGM, beginning with a police-sanctioned
rally in Port of Spain planned for Sunday, November 21. These
groups intend to use the public spotlight to publicize domestic
issues of contention, such as crime, rising unemployment, and a
perceived lack of good governance. Expectations are that these
protests will be small and non-disruptive.



PULLING IT TOGETHER, AT THE LAST MINUTE

--------------

PORT OF SP 00000460 003.3 OF 003



9. In somewhat typical fashion for Trinidad and Tobago, CHOGM
planning seems to be falling into place at the last minute, but not
without fits and starts. The venue for the opening ceremony,
Trinidad's brand new National Academy for the Performing Arts
(NAPA),is still under construction (the government's private
assurances are that "the part we need will be done"). Executives
of the Trinidad and Tobago Chamber of Industry and Commerce (TTIC)
told us in mid-October that ticket sales for the Business Forum
were not selling as briskly as hoped, but that they were confident
the event would be successful. Perhaps in order to improve its
image with Commonwealth members and minimize distracting bilateral
discussions, the GOTT hastily chartered a jet in October to return
a group of African deportees to their respective homelands, and
opened an immigration detention center November 11 to house others
that had been in legal limbo.




10. A diplomat close to the CHOGM planning process told us the
meeting will go off mostly as expected, but efforts in the week
before the meeting were a "mad scramble." The diplomat described
the GOTT-appointed secretariat as dysfunctional and dictatorial,
tabling "crazy ideas" that the other Commonwealth member
representatives needed to dismiss or tone down. In what was
described as a bout of hubris, we were told the Prime Minister
announced this week that, instead of the long-agreed to plan to
have him greet the heads of government at the opening ceremony in
two or three groups bussed to the event, he now preferred to have
each of the 50 leaders arrive by individual motorcade, "turning a
30 minute arrival program into a two-hour event," our contact said,
and creating a much larger carbon footprint completely at odds with
the planned discussions on climate change.



COMMENT: SMALL ISLAND, BIG AMBITION

--------------



11: COMMENT: In an address to the nation November 18, Prime
Minister Manning implored citizens to welcome CHOGM participants
and be patient with any disruptions. In an echo of his
justification for hosting the Summit of the Americas, he
prophesized that having the world's eyes focused on T&T for CHOGM
would lure tourists and investors here. Manning also appears to be
vying for credentials as a regional, if not worldwide, player, by
focusing on climate change and inviting notables in the arena such
as Rasmussen, Sarkozy, Lula and the UNSYG for those talks. In his
televised address, Manning stated that Trinidad and Tobago has been
"at the center of almost frenzied activity among leading nations
from both the developed and developing world...in preparation for
the Copenhagen meeting," adding that Port of Spain has become the
final and most important step in the Copenhagen process.
KUSNITZ