ST. LUCIA-POLITICS-St. Lucia PM looking to Canada tp help region deal with issues includin climate change.

CASTRIES -- Prime Minister Phillip J Pierre Friday said he expects next week's Caribbean Community (CARICOM)-Canada summit to further enhance the region's efforts to get the international community to honour their commitments to assist small island developing states (SIDS) deal with the impact of climate change.

Speaking at a news conference at the Hewanorra International Airport as he prepared to attend the October 17-19 summit in Ottawa, Pierre told reporters that he and his CARCOM colleagues would be looking to the North American country to put forward their case on the issue.

Prime Minister Phillip J. Pierre at news conference on Friday (CCMC Photo)

'In terms of climate resilience, we know that the world will not meet the 1.5 degrees Celsius in terms of global warming. There are serious issues as it relates to that. We have seen the devastating effect of floods, of droughts, of earthquakes etc,

'Canada is committed to assist us in this regard. But having said so, the rest of the international world has not met its commitment of the US$100 billion that they promised to give the developing world in terms of climate resilience...or even climate mitigation.

'So hopefully, we think that our traditional friends, like Canada can help stir that level of interest, can help to say to the international world, listen, you are the ones causing the problems...and the science has proved that he developed world are the biggest emitters that cause issues related to climate change.

'So what we hope to get from this summit is ...hopefully our issues can be promoted through to the international world,' Pierre told reporters.

He said in terms of finance, a look at the debt profile of the region and of St. Lucia in particular, ' you will find we have had to borrow the most after a hurricane.

'There are some countries like Dominica, 97 per cent of their GDP (gross domestic product) was written off by a hurricane. So we are saying you cannot treat us the same way you treat countries as far as development financing is concern.

'So we are looking for special and differential treatment. We are looking for loss and damage clauses as far as our borrowing is concerned,' he...