Prime Minister the Right Honourable Dr Keith Mitchell on Wednesday received credentials from the new British High Commissioner to Barbados and the Eastern Caribbean Scott Furssedonn-Wood.
Dr Mitchell congratulated Furssedonn-Wood on his new position and expressed a desire to continue the longstanding relationship between Grenada and the United Kingdom.
Much of the conversation during the 30-minute meeting focused on the Covid-19 pandemic including Grenada’s successful management of the pandemic to date, the soon-to-be-implemented entry protocols and vaccine hesitancy.
Dr Mitchell said, “Grenada has done reasonably well in the overall management of the pandemic but because of that, some people have become complacent and are not seeing the existing threat. We simply cannot afford to drop our guard. We are doing well, but overnight, the situation can change drastically.”
On the subject of vaccination, the Prime Minister noted that this is proving to be a challenge and there is a lot of misinformation. Furssedonn-Wood acknowledged that the situation is not unique to Grenada. He said it is concerning that people are prepared to trust messages from unknown persons, rather than their elected representatives. The newly appointed UK representative encouraged the Prime Minister to identify any areas in which the British can help.
Climate change was another important topic of discussion and Furssedonn-Wood stressed the importance of voices like Grenada’s being heard because while they are not large-scale emitters, they are on the frontline of the devastating impact.
He said there’s a need for a serious commitment from countries that are significant emitters of greenhouse gases if there’s to be any chance of successfully limiting the rise in global temperatures to 1.5° Celsius, as set out in the Paris Agreement.
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