President Bharrat Jagdeo met with a high-level British team on Thursday to discuss matters related to the Low Carbon Development Strategy (LCDS) following the UK’s consistent support of the strategy.

According to a press release from the Government Information Agency (GINA) Jagdeo met John Rankin, Director of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, London and British High Commissioner to Guyana, Fraser Wheeler. They were later joined by Simon Bond, Deputy British High Commissioner to Guyana and Mark Montgomery of the Department for International Cooperation, Guyana/Caribbean.

After the meeting, Wheeler said that the British authorities have been working closely with government on the LCDS, funding some activities. “We’re very supportive of the whole strategy, very supportive of the concept of avoided deforestation and we want to work closely with the government on the run-up to Copenhagen so we can do a deal,” he said.

Britain’s Prince Charles and his Rainforest Project have also been supporters of Guyana’s LCDS. Guyana was one of only three non-G20 countries the Prince had invited to meet the leaders of the most powerful countries in the world to examine possible solutions to deforestation during the G20 summit in London.

According to GINA other supporters of the LCDS include Norway, the Clinton Foundation, Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi of Italy who has promised to include the issue of deforestation in the agenda of the ongoing G8 meeting, and US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton who has said that addressing forestry can also help accelerate a greater global understanding of the need for action on the broader climate change agenda.