THE 60TH Commonwealth Summit is set to end on a high note of optimism this evening for mobilising support at the forthcoming international conference on climate change in Copenhagen, Denmark.

And the fine gesture by France and Britain to partner a special fund of US$10 Billion (billion) over three years, starting in 2010, to help poor and developing nations to combat the consequences of climate change, has clearly contributed to this appreciable mood of optimism.

Countries like Brazil, which last week hosted a special meeting of the Amazon region, with Presidents Sarkozy and Guyana’s President Bharrat Jagdeo among the participants methodically working for inclusion of rain forests in the battle to combat climate change, would have good reason to be encouraged by the boost given at the Commonwealth Summit.

The Caribbean Community, which is united in efforts to secure as much international support as possible to counter the vulnerabilities to which poor and small states are exposed to climate change, knows of the high profile role that President Jagdeo continues to play, particularly in relation to Guyana’s Low Carbon Development Strategy (LCDS), in helping to advance this region’s varied efforts for a definitive outcome of the coming Copenhagen Conference on Climate Change.

President Jagdeo is engaged in other ways with President Inacio Lula daSilva in strengthening Brazil-Guyana relations and wider hemispheric cooperation.

But yesterday’s photograph (as appeared in the Chronicle) of President daSilva flanked by his French and Guyanese counterparts, would also have served as an encouraging reminder of the strengthening of international solidarity in response to the massive challenges posed by the phenomenon of climate change.