THE government will be reaching out more to the University of Guyana to forge and test national policies in a new partnership, according to President Bharrat Jagdeo.

In a move warmly welcomed by the university, he on Wednesday made a detailed presentation of Guyana’s bid for an historic and ambitious climate change strategy to be tabled at the crucial United Nations conference for a global deal in Copenhagen, Denmark in December.

UG Vice-Chancellor Professor Lawrence Carrington and President Bharrat Jagdeo share a light moment at the University’s Turkeyen campus on Wednesday.

The draft is up for widespread discussion and possible refinement through a three-month period of widespread national consultations due to begin today in Region Nine.

The theme of the low carbon development strategy is `Transforming Guyana’s Economy While Combating Climate Change’ and President Jagdeo formally launched the 58-page document on June 8.

At the interactive session on the Turkeyen campus of the university, he said it is important that UG and academics get involved in formulating and testing national policies.

UG Vice-Chancellor Professor Lawrence Carrington commended the President for reaching out to the university and Mr. Jagdeo said he looks forward to this new partnership.

He said that under the arrangement, many of the policies that are developed within the core of the government could stand rigorous scrutiny by academics and hopefully, “through the rigorous scrutiny we will be able to correct deficiencies and also advance and improve them.”

He called on academics and others to raise issues that would stimulate further discussion on the new development strategy and urged them to all participate in this.

“There are many opportunities for you doing so online and if you want additional facilitation, if you have a group discussion we’ll provide those”, Mr. Jagdeo said.

Carrington said the President’s discourse has stimulated the kind of response that “I know we are going to have when we come to deal with the actual text of the document.”

Mr. Jagdeo also said that he and Carrington have had several discussions on this new partnership.

He said the current climate change debate for countries like Guyana is about, among other key issues, getting payment for helping to save the planet by preserving standing forests.

This, he said, calls for a “serious lobbying effort” to get deforestation included in the agreement from the United Nations summit on climate change in Copenhagen.

He said the developed world was not doing enough towards reducing the emission of harmful gases into the atmosphere that is at the core of the climate change battle.

Dr. Roger Luncheon, Head of the Presidential Secretariat, said teams of Cabinet Ministers, including Prime Minister Sam Hinds, officials from the Climate Change Unit in the Office of the President and others will be spearheading the sub-national consultations which begin today in the Rupununi.

Representatives from Amerindian and other organizations will be in the teams, an official said.

Luncheon at his regular post-Cabinet briefing Wednesday said Cabinet anticipates that during the consultations, the detailed thrust of the draft strategy will be examined and re-examined over the three months by the stakeholders.

Cabinet looked at the awareness plan and its various components, especially on the provision of information which will be dealt with aggressively, he told reporters.

He said the public engagements with stakeholders, various constituencies and target groups were also reported on.

“The mood of Cabinet members was aggressive for the commitment to fully engage all Guyanese in the context of national efforts to finalise and to adopt that strategy”, he said.