A draft climate change policy for Trinidad and Tobago was submitted to the Cabinet yesterday, less than a week before the issue is set to take centre stage during the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) in Port of Spain.

Foreign Affairs Minister Paula Gopee-Scoon made the announcement during yesterday’s post-Cabinet news conference at the Diplomatic Centre in St Ann’s.

’This morning, the draft national climate change policy for Trinidad and Tobago was in fact presented to the Cabinet and is now referred to the Finance and General Purposes Committee (F&GP),’ Gopee-Scoon said.

She added that she made the announcement yesterday in the context of the ’heightened focus on the matter of climate change in the upcoming CHOGM meeting’.

During an address to the nation on CHOGM on Wednesday night, Prime Minister Patrick Manning confirmed that Prime Minister Lars Leokke Rasmussen, of Denmark; France President Nicolas Sarkozy; and United Nations Secretary General, Ban Ki Moon will be on official visits here to participate in talks on climate change during the CHOGM, which will occur just days before a crucial UN meeting on the issue in Copenhagen, Denmark, next month. -JB