British Prime Minister Boris Johnson has issued a personal invitation to Jamaica’s Prime Minister Andrew Holness to attend the United Kingdom-organised World Leaders Summit as a part of COP26 scheduled for October 31 to November 12 in Glasgow, Scotland.

But Jamaica House sources say Holness is yet to make a decision if he will attend.

“It could mean several days out of the island and the prime minister will have to decide if he can afford that based on a number of factors including the active cases of COVID-19 in Jamaica at the time, and the state of the vaccination programme,” said one Government source.

“No decision will be made until much closer to the time,” added the source.

Responding to questions from the Jamaica Observer, British High Commission spokesman Syranno Baines confirmed the invitation from Johnson.

“Prime Minister Holness, and his Government, are strong advocates for climate action and we can confirm that he has expressed a willingness to attend the UK-organised World Leaders Summit as a part of COP26 in Glasgow. It will be for the prime minister to communicate his final decision on attendance at an appropriate time,” said Baines.

“As a region that has contributed little to the climate crisis but is affected disproportionately by some of its worst impacts, we expect strong attendance at the leadership level from the Caribbean. It is vital that their voices be heard,” added Baines in response to questions on whether other Caribbean heads of Government are scheduled to be at COP26.

He noted that delegations from the region will receive financial support from the United Nations to attend COP26, which is being billed as “the world’s best last chance to get runaway climate change under control”.

Baines argued that: “Jamaica continues to punch above its weight in the climate fight and is an established Small Island Developing States leader.”

He noted that Jamaica and the UK co-chair the NDC (Nationally Determined Contribution) Partnership and more recently Jamaica was included in the international COP26 project ‘Futures We Want’, on how we work toward a net zero future by 2050.

The project, which was launched late last month, shines hope for an achievable, beneficial, resilient and desirable global net zero future for nations across the world.

This global project, commissioned ahead of the UK’s COP Presidency, brought together young people, indigenous and rural communities, civil society, business and industry from across six regions of the world, using world-class research and evidence to envision their priorities, hopes and desires for their future.

Including communities from the UK, Jamaica, Brazil, Kenya, United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, and India, the COP26 flagship science and innovation programme explored diverse perspectives and solutions to the day-to-day impacts of climate change such as electricity generation, agriculture, waste and water management, building design, reforestation and ocean conservation.

The global group of citizens explored the range of net zero and resilience solutions that exist across the world, and recognised how achieving this future would bring wide-ranging opportunities and benefits such as the creation of new jobs, improving our health and quality of life, and securing sustainable food and water supplies.