The Tribune

By LEANDRA ROLLE

Tribune Staff Reporter

lrolle@tribunemedia.net

GOVERNMENT officials along with members of the wider political community gathered at the Senate on Friday to sign the book of condolences in the wake of Queen Elizabeth II’s death.

Among those who participated in Friday’s signing were Prime Minister Phillip “Brave” Davis, Social Services Minister Obie Wilchcombe, Former Prime Ministers Hubert Ingraham, Perry Christie and Dr Hubert Minnis, Free National Movement Leader Michael Pintard and others.

After paying their respects, several leaders, including Prime Minister Davis, spoke to the media again expressing their sympathy to the monarch and the Royal Family.

“Her long life of 96 years, 70 of which was in the service of our country as Queen and head of state has to be marked and as a monarch, recognising that she’s our Queen, these are things that protocol dictate that we do so we have a book of memorial to be signed by leaders of our country,” he said.

It is expected that Mr Davis and other officials will travel to London to attend the Queen’s funeral.

Asked what’s next for the country once the mourning period ends, Mr Davis said the next step will be to welcome King Charles III.

Given King Charles’ well known reputation of being an environmentalist, Prime Minister Davis was asked whether he was excited about his potential influence in the fight against climate change.

He spoke briefly with King Charles last year at COP26 in Glasgow, Scotland, about the environmental threat and the challenges small island developing states like The Bahamas faced in accessing funding to assist with climate change mitigation efforts.

On Friday, Mr Davis replied: “Certainly.”

He added: “He and I have been working on raising and ensuring that the industrial nations fulfil their commitment of the hundred billion dollars each year and he has brought the private sector into that aspect of it to invest in the green economy as it’s now evolving.

“So he has been a very true activist in this regard and - now the only thing is the environmental issues have become very partisan and as the King, he is supposed to be above partisan matters, but we hope that he would not forget the role he has played in trying to shape the world’s view on environmental matters, particularly the impact of climate change.”

Since taking office last year, Mr Davis has been among the leading voices with regards to climate change, often travelling to various countries to attend special conferences to speak on the issue.

He has repeatedly called for multilateral organisations to forgive those debts of small countries that are related to climate change, noting the consequences of natural disasters.