LONDON, England – In his first visit over a year and due to the pandemic, ambassador Whittingham returned to Honduras to address top UK priorities, including prosperity, climate change, human rights and the battle against COVID-19.
In the Bay Islands ambassador Whittingham met with British citizens, representatives of local communities and executives from the Prospera development initiative. He welcomed the reactivation of tourism and efforts from the islanders to create prosperity and battle the impacts of the pandemic.
During his visit to Tegucigalpa, ambassador Whittingham also looked to progress UK objectives towards COP26, the global climate change conference to be held in Glasgow in November this year. The ambassador met with the Secretary of Environment, Liliam Rivera Hipp, and congratulated Honduras for increasing its ambitions toward emissions reductions.
During his meeting with deputy secretary of foreign affairs, Isaias Barahona, ambassador Whittingham stressed the unwavering UK commitment to continue fighting COVID-19 by suppling vaccines to those in need. The UK will give five million doses of vaccines to COVAX, of which Honduras is beneficiary. The UK has pledged to donate 100 million vaccines overseas by June 2022, 80 million of which will go to this mechanism.
Finally, ambassador Whittingham met with the private sector, justice operators, and civil society to address the critical need of tackling corruption in order to boost prosperity and attract investments. The ambassador also stressed that a free press is a much-needed resource in all societies to encourage transparency, and called for protection of journalists.
