Grenada Leads the way in advocating assistance for Haiti in meeting its obligations under the Montreal Protocol

ST. GEORGE’S, GRENADA, Thursday, July 01, 2010: At the recently concluded thirtieth (30th) Open-ended Working Group Meeting of the Montreal Protocol, held in Geneva, Switzerland from June 14th – 18th, 2010, Grenada – represented by the Project Officer in the National Ozone Unit, Energy Division, Ministry of Finance, Mr. Leslie Smith – a draft decision was introduced to allow the Montreal Protocol community to provide support to Haiti. Upon discussion, the meeting agreed to advance the draft decision for adoption at the Twenty-second (22nd ) Meeting of the Parties to the Montreal Protocol in Kampala , Uganda from November 8th – 12th, 2010.

Recognizing the extraordinary difficulties faced by Haiti as a result of the earthquake that struck Haiti on January 12th, 2010, the draft decision requests that the member countries that have signed on to the Montreal Protocol (the Parties), the Multilateral Fund and its Executive Committee for the implementation of the Montreal Protocol and other relevant organizations, such as the Implementation Committee to provide assistance and support to Haiti in meeting its obligations under the Montreal Protocol.

The draft decision jointly presented by Grenada and St. Lucia received widespread support from the delegates of the Group of Latin America and the Caribbean (GRULAC), Mauritius, Nigeria, United States of America (USA), Canada, Brazil, Trinidad and Tobago and Japan.

At the meeting, Grenada also led the way in requesting that the Ozone Secretariat prepare an information document to look at the possibility of upgrading the office of Executive Secretary of the Ozone Secretariat to the level of United Nations (UN) Assistant Secretary-General. As agreed by the Parties, Co-chair Martin Sirois of Canada requested that the Secretariat prepare the document for consideration by the next meeting of the Parties in November 2010.

Grenada’s Minister of the Environment, Foreign Trade and Export Development, the Hon. Michael Church, was also present at the meeting. Minister Church attended in his capacity as President, Bureau of Parties to the Montreal Protocol.