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ST GEORGE’S, Grenada -- Newly elected prime minister of Grenada, Dr Keith Mitchell, has pledged his commitment to co-host the leadership summit for the Caribbean Challenge Initiative (CCI) in the British Virgin Islands (BVI) from May 17-18.

The prime minister was updated on the status of preparation for the summit on Wednesday by members of the Secretariat.

The summit will bring together heads of governments, ministers of the environment, chief executive officers of major corporations and donor agencies, to set a new course for the management and preservation of the region’s marine and coastal environment.

The event will be co-hosted by the prime minister of Grenada and the premier of the BVI with support from Sir Richard Branson of the Virgin Group and The Nature Conservancy.

Financing initiatives by governments and donor agencies including the World Bank Initiative on Oceans and the Caribbean Biodiversity Fund were also discussed.

Mitchell noted the bilateral debt-for-nature swaps that take place between governments, where a creditor country forgives a portion of the public bilateral debt in exchange for environmental commitments from that country.

The prime minister applauded the work done in Grenada on marine protected areas (MPAs) and the link to livelihood of communities.

In 2008, the Caribbean Challenge Initiative (CCI) was launched by a set of governments, as an effort to provide greater leadership, for protecting and sustainably managing the marine and coastal environment across the Caribbean.

The summit is an historic opportunity to safeguard the Caribbean marine and coastal environment for future generations.

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