Georgetown: The EU views the Expo as an excellent opportunity to showcase its efforts in raising awareness of climate change as an issue of global importance, and to highlight the forthcoming COP21 Summit in Paris in December 2015. EU Ambassador Jernej Videtič noted that at the Paris summit it is expected that a new global climate agreement will be concluded which will outline the decisive action needed to tackle climate change. He welcomed Guyana's progress on its Intended Nationally Determined Contributions, and encouraged its rapid completion as it is vitally important that all countries commit to adopting the new agreement and playing their part in tackling climate change. He noted that while the EU considers that the major economies and major emitters need to take the lead on this issue, all countries in the world need to play their part.
High Commissioner Greg Quinn said that climate change was too important an issue for us to ignore and that we all have our part to play in making a difference and addressing the problem. As an example he referred to the importance of renewable energy.
The EU and Guyana have a strong and long-standing relationship on climate change and to date the EU has given almost Euro 100 million towards climate change adaptation in Guyana, mainly to coastal zone protection through sea defences and mangrove restoration. DFID UK Forest Governance, Markets and Climate Programme has made available almost £2.5 million to support the negotiations of a Forest Law Enforcement, Governance and Trade (FLEGT) Voluntary Partnership Agreement with the European Union. This amount includes a contribution of approximately £1.6 million from the Government of the Kingdom of Norway.
Ambassador Videtič and High Commissioner Quinn also took the opportunity to applaud the efforts of the M&CC in cleaning up the city of Georgetown.
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