Minister without Portfolio in the Ministry of Economic Growth and Job Creation, Senator the Hon. Matthew Samuda, is to lead Jamaica’s environment agenda at the XXIII Meeting of the Forum of Ministers of the Environment of Latin America and the Caribbean scheduled for October 24-26, 2023, in Panama.

The Forum’s primary role is to provide a space for the region’s governments to establish priorities for environmental action and to collaborate on the implementation of programs, projects, and approaches to address those priorities.

Minister Samuda, who has portfolio responsibility for the environment, noted that these regional conversations are needed to boost collaboration on the shared environmental agenda.

“Many successful partnerships, at different levels, have been forged within the region in addressing common environmental priorities and challenges. For example, the region has made significant progress in reducing deforestation, promoting renewable energy, and improving air quality. However, more needs to be done to address the region’s environmental concerns, many of which are the subject of this XXIII Forum of Ministers of the Environment of the LAC region,” Minister Samuda said.

The Forum also serves as the regional meeting for the discussion and preparation of Latin American and Caribbean (LAC) Countries on Sustainable Development, which feeds into the United Nations Environment Assembly (UNEA).

High-level representatives of the region’s governments, multilateral environmental agreement secretariats, research and academic organizations, civil society organizations, and regional and global development cooperation institutions will attend the event.

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