Charest to peddle Northern Plan at Rio conference

MONTREAL - Premier Jean Charest is heading south to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil to showcase the Northern Plan as a model of development at the UN Conference on Sustainable Development in Rio + 20.

Premier Charest will make present the plan as a "tool for transition to a green economy," in the visit that lasts from June 17 to 22.

Charest will also co-chair the general meeting of states, as well as parts of the climate group and will speak at the World Summit of federated states and regions.

The Rio + 20 conference will result in several bilateral and multilateral agreements that will allow Quebec to discuss issues relating to climate change and sustainable development.

Charest will be joined by Pierre Arcand, who serves as Liberal Minister of Sustainable Development, Environment and Parks.

It will be Charest's second trip to Brazil this year. He also brought a delegation of Quebec entrepreneurs to the country in April. 

With a file from The Canadian Press

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  In this picture released by Amazon Watch, indigenous people along with small farmers, fisherfolk, and local residents occupy the Belo Monte Dam project during a protest at the Xingu river in the Brazilian state of Para, Friday, June 15, 2012. The group was sending out a message about the impacts of the dam to leaders who are gathering for the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development, or Rio+20, in Rio de Janeiro. The planned project to dam the Xingu River, which feeds the Amazon, would be the third-largest such hydroelectric project in the world. (AP Photo/Atossa Soltani, Amazon Watch)