UNITED NATIONS, NEW YORK – Former President of Guyana, Bharrat Jagdeo this week joined current and former Heads of State, major business leaders and global civil society activists at the United Nations Climate Summit and other events in New York City.
On Monday, the former President attended the Clinton Global Initiative, which was hosted by President Bill Clinton and former US Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton. The Clinton Global Initiative focused on, among other priorities, the economics of combating climate change. At the end of the opening plenary, President Jagdeo spoke of his discussions with several political leaders during a private event hosted by President Clinton.
According to the former President, “We are fifteen months away from the Paris climate change meeting, where the international community has committed to reach a legally binding global agreement to stabilize the planet’s atmosphere. The last such attempt was in Copenhagen in 2009, and the international community failed to do what it had to do – but thankfully, this time the level of awareness among Heads of Government is higher now than before, and the next fifteen months give them time to do what they have to do. For that reason, it is extremely important that the international community hears the voice of people from around the world that the tough action needed to combat climate change has to happen now.”
Referring to the climate march that had seen 310,000 people take to the streets of New York City the day before, the former President said, “Yesterday, over 300,000 people protested on the streets of New York to demand action from the international community – their voice needs to be joined by voices from all over the world, and they need to keep the pressure on the international community all the way to Paris next year.”
At the end of the UN Climate Summit, on Tuesday evening, Jagdeo addressed the Leaders Gathering of the Global Green Growth Institute (GGGI), where it was announced that Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, President of Indonesia, has been nominated to take over from Jagdeo as President of the GGGI Assembly in November.
By then, Jagdeo would have served as inaugural President of the Korea-based organization for two years, having been one of the Institute’s founding Board Members
President Yudhoyono accepted the nomination at the GGGI Leaders’ Gathering, held in the United Nations Headquarters.
The Gathering was attended by a number of high-level officials, including current and former heads of state, such as President Park Geun-hye of Korea, the host country of GGGI.
President Park also thanked President Jagdeo for his dedication to advance GGGI over the past two years, when she addressed the event.
Meanwhile, the former President also addressed leaders from other GGGI Member countries, and once again emphasised the importance of an ambitious global climate agreement to be reached in 2015.
In particular, he called for more ambition from developed countries to stabilize the climate’s atmosphere, echoing the earlier call from UN Secretary General Ban ki-Moon. The UN Secretary General hosted the Climate Summit in order to bring high-level attention to the need for a global climate agreement, and he told Heads of State and Government from most of the world’s countries that they had fifteen months to prepare for success.
