Queen Elizabeth 11

Mum’s the word on where Queen Elizabeth 11 and her husband, Prince Phillip, will be staying while the royal couple are here in late November for the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM). Communications specialist for the CHOGM’s national coordinating committee, Felipe Noguera, said he was not at liberty to say where the Queen, titular head of the Commonwealth, will be staying for security reasons.

His response came when asked whether Her Majesty will be staying the duration of her visit to Port-of-Spain aboard the royal yacht Britannia, or will be a guest of the T&T Government at a Hyatt Regency or Hilton Trinidad hotel suite. Noguera also disclosed that the efforts by CHOGM organisers to have US President Barack Obama as a special guest for the November 27-29 Commonwealth Summit had fallen through as his engagements did not permit him to be in the Caribbean at that time. Queen Elizabeth is due to pay her State visit from November 26 to 28.

Noguera could not confirm whether she (the Queen) would address the assembled Government Heads, but assured that she would be meeting the newly elected leaders, as well as T&T Prime Minister Patrick Manning. And as is customary at CHOGMs the Queen would host a banquet for the attendees. “I am not sure if it is lunch or dinner,” said Noguera. And even though Zimbabwe’s President Robert Mugabe is currently in talks with the European Union, that would not affect his suspension from the Commonwealth imposed on the country because of his undemocratic polices.

Mugabe is not expected at the conference. He said the coordinating committee was concentrating on the CHOGM coming up with recommendations to make at the United Nations climate change conference scheduled for early December in Copenhagen. “We need to speak with one voice,” declared Noguera, who added that Caribbean coasts are already being affected by global warming.

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Last Friday Commonwealth Deputy Secretary General Mmasekgoa Masire-Mwamba was in Port-of-Spain monitoring the state of preparedness of the country for the CHOGM and she hosted a news conference at the Hyatt Regency. Noguera disclosed that the committee had planned a number of engagements in T&T to heighten public awareness about the CHOGM and what it could mean for this country.

CHOGM’s calendar for November

9 to 23 Commonwealth Youth Forum.
23 to 26 Commonwealth People’s Forum.
24 to 26 Commonwealth Business Forum.
26 to 28 State Visit by Queen Elizabeth II.
25 to 26 Foreign Ministers Meeting.
25 to 26 Commonwealth Ministerial Action Group.
27 to 29 Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting.