ST. GEORGE’S, GRENADA :- Prime Minister Hon. Tillman Thomas today discussed the importance of limiting greenhouse emissions and climate change to small island states, during a meeting with the Director of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), John Kilani. “We have to pay attention to this issue because it means survival for some of our small islands,” the Prime Minister told Mr. Kilani, who is in Grenada for a UNFCCC conference. This is the first time the agency is meeting outside of its headquarters in Bonn, Germany. The Prime Minister, who has championed the issue at several international engagements, including the recent Summit of the Americas in Trinidad and Tobago, will address the three day meeting, which will be held at the St. George’s University. According to Mr. Kilani, Grenada was chosen for the meeting because of the country’s position, as chair of the Alliance of Small Island States (AOSIS). “The small island countries have taken this issue very seriously and have been playing a very important role in keeping it on the international agenda,” said Mr Kilani. Several CARICOM states will be represented at the meeting, which comes amid growing international debate on the shape of a global response to the problem. In a recent address to the United Nations, Prime Minister Thomas signaled the need for a “legal framework” to be developed at the global conference on Climate Change to be held in Copenhagen, Denmark, in December. The Grenadian leader has also been invited to address the subject by United Nations Secretary General, Ban Ki-Moon, at a special conference at the UN headquarters in New York, in September.