DOMINICA-WEATHER-Dominica welcomes Mexico’s support for island becoming climate change resilient

ROSEAU, Dominica, Dec 13, CMC – Dominica Wednesday praised Mexico for its role in assisting the island become the first climate change resilient country in the world, praising also its efforts to help small island developing states (SIDS) deal with the impact of climate change.
“Mexico has stood in solidarity with Dominica in our rehabilitation efforts following the devastation caused by adverse weather conditions on the 24th December 2013, on 27th August 2015 and more recently on the 18th of September, 2017,” President Charles savarin said as he accepted the credentials of the Mexican ambassador Oscar Esparaza Vargas.
Dominica has been pushing to become the world’s first climate change resilient country after Hurricane Maria, a category 5 storm slammed into the island in September killing at least 28 people and leaving millions o dollars in damages.
Prime Minister Roosevelt Skerrit has already said that the creation of the Climate Resilience Executing Agency of DOMINICA (CREAD) is one solution to address the challenges posed by climate change and has been appealing to the international community to help fund the initiative.
Savarin said Dominica and the rest of the Caribbean are vulnerable to natural disasters due to climate change and welcomed the focus of Mexico in assisting SIDS “in developing their resilience to climate change and natural disasters.
“Dominica is further committed, possibly, the first totally renewable energy country…given the expertise of the United Mexican States in this field there is opportunity for cooperation between the United Mexican States and Dominica in the area of our geothermal development programme that will see us having a transformational impact on the mid-term to long-term development,’ Savarin said.
The Mexican diplomat said that Mexico is providing funding for the construction of a hospital in Marigot, north-east of here and that his country’s support in the reconstruction of Dominica would continue.
“Four years ago we supported your efforts for reconstruction after the Christmas Eve heavy rains. In 2015 we did the same…and this year after you face one of the biggest challenge that any nation has had to deal with…Mexico is next to you once again.
“We are working to start very soon with a Mexican infrastructure project to provide this beautiful country with a much needed hospital in the Marigot area,” he said, adding that his mission here is also to work on the framework that would allow the two countries to “work on the cooperation programmes and to take full advantage of the opportunities that Mexico and the Commonwealth of Dominica could have in the fields of education, trade, investments and culture just to name a few”.