UN General Assembly
2008

for substantial results in that area. We hope to achieve meaningful progress, in cooperation with development partners within the public and private sectors, both locally and internationally, and with civil society. Cooperation at the international level is also indispensable to efforts aimed at addressing the current energy crisis. Trinidad and Tobago is seeking to partner with its African friends in order to, among other things, identify ways of developing long-term strategies for the sustainable development and utilization of their energy resources. That is in keeping with the pledge made by The Honourable Patrick Manning, Prime Minister of the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago, in 2007, when he addressed the eighth Summit of the African Union, in Ethiopia. Since then, discussions have ensued with individual African States and with the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), to advance the initiative. The Government of Trinidad and Tobago is eager to work assiduously towards the attainment of our common objectives. Trinidad and Tobago firmly believes that the United Nations must take the lead in the management