President Bharrat Jagdeo is to leave today for the Summit of the Americas, being held in Trinidad and says that he hopes to extract a few issues to highlight including climate change, though he noted that given the nature of such gatherings that is easier said than done.

He will also meet with leaders of the Caribbean Community (Caricom) before the formal opening of the Summit to concretize positions that they may wish to pursue, he told reporters at a press conference at the Office of the President yesterday.

“My hope is that we can focus on a few issues, very concrete issues or initiatives that can emerge out of this long list of pledges that we have made which are often forgotten by the time people leave summits”, he said.

Jagdeo stated that he hopes that Caricom’s presence in Trinidad would add value to the process and would allow the grouping to select a few of the initiatives that can actually be implemented and would be a beneficial use of time. He said that he thinks that they have a greater chance of succeeding as a region noting that the situation now is different from the time the last summit was held “and this is largely because of the enlightened approach of (US) President (Barack) Obama on many of the issues that are before us for discussion”. The President stated that the United States has a progressive policy on climate change and on diversifying energy sources.

He added that given the new US administration’s track record, he believes that there is the possibility of a much better working environment “and I hope that we can capitalize on that environment to solve some of the problems facing our region”.