PORT OF SPAIN (AFP) – Commonwealth leaders meeting in Trindad this week face a “crisis summit” as they battle the global recession and face calls to action on climate change, the body’s chief has said. Commonwealth Secretary General Kamalesh Sharma said the 53-member body composed mainly of former British colonies was holding its biennial summit, known as the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM), at a key moment. “This CHOGM will be a meeting of its time, to consider the issues of its time,” Sharma said as he addressed hundreds of Commonwealth civic leaders, gathered in Trinidad ahead of the summit talks. Since the last such forum in Kampala, Uganda in 2007, “the global situation has drastically changed,” said Sharma, an Indian career diplomat. “We have all had a bad few years of crisis upon crisis. The fuel and food crises of last year have been compounded by a financial crisis in 2009, in which no less than half of our members are suffering negative growth.” Since its founding 60 years ago, the Commonwealth has stretched around the globe, and now represents two billion people and accounts for a fifth of world trade. “Everyone is hurting — there is a strong case for saying that CHOGM 2009 constitutes a crisis summit,” Sharma told the opening of the Commonwealth People’s Forum. He also said he believed summit leaders would put forward a strong political statement ahead of the UN climate change conference to be held in Copenhagen, Denmark from December 7. In a rare move, UN chief Ban Ki-moon as well as Danish Prime Minister Lars Loekke Rasmussen will travel to Trinidad for talks with Commonwealth leaders on Friday, also set to be attended by French President Nicolas Sarkozy. Rasmussen will visit Trinidad to encourage Commonwealth heads of state and government to attend the December 7-18 climate talks in Copenhagen, a Danish spokesman told AFP. The summit talks will be officially opened by Britain’s Queen Elizabeth II on Friday and end on Sunday. Read more: Commonwealth faces ‘crisis summit’: body’s chief

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* In talks to sell interest for between $1.3-1.5 bln-source * Talks continuing, deal could be announced on Monday-source * Heritage looking to pay a special dividend-report By Quentin Webb and Julie Crust LONDON, Nov 22 (Reuters) – British oil explorer Heritage Oil ( HOIL.L ) ( HOC.TO ) is in talks to sell its Ugandan assets to Italian oil group Eni SpA ( ENI.MI ) for between $1.3-1.5 billion, a person familiar with the matter said on Sunday Talks are continuing and a deal could be announced as early as Monday, the person said. Heritage is examining paying a special dividend to return some of the proceeds to shareholders, the person added. The Sunday Times reported that Heritage will pay a special dividend of 90 pence to 100 pence per share, citing no sources. Heritage Chief Executive Tony Buckingham, who previously ran companies which hired out mercenaries in Africa, could get about 84 million pounds ($126 million) from his 33 percent stake in the company, the paper said. Heritage, which is in talks with Turkey’s Genel Energy regarding a proposed $6 billion merger, is the operator and holds a 50 percent interest in two licences in Uganda. The fields are estimated to contain more than 700 million barrels of gross resources. Tullow Oil ( TLW.L ) holds the remainder of the two licences located in the Albert Basin, close to the Democratic Republic of Congo, and is looking to sell up to 50 percent of its stake. A spokeswoman for Eni declined to comment, while Heritage could not be reached. On Tuesday, Heritage said merger talks with Genel were ongoing and that it hoped to reach a formal agreement before the end of the year. [ID:nL0122820] It also said it was planning for early commercialisation of the Ugandan oil resources, with potential first production in 2011. (Editing by Jon Loades-Carter) ($1=.6645 Pound) ((julie.crust@thomsonreuters.com; +44 207 542 3847)) Read the r est here: Heritage, Eni close to $1.5 bln Uganda deal-source

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KAMPALA, Nov 20 (Reuters) – Uganda’s shilling UGX= fell slightly versus the dollar on Friday due to some demand for greenbacks from the telecommunications and oil sectors, traders said. At 0800 GMT, leading commercial banks posted the local unit at 1,865/75 against the greenback, down marginally from the previous day’s close of 1,864/69. “This morning, we’ve see it continue to depreciate against the dollar … from some bit of demand from the telecoms and oil sectors,” a foreign exchange trader said. Another trader said some interbank trade had caused the shilling fall slightly. Beginning in the middle of 2008, the unit fell to historic lows after an outflow of foreign portfolio investments from the fixed-income and capital markets on the global financial crisis. That fall continued into 2009 on strong dollar demand from offshore investors and corporates. But since June, the east African country’s currency has gained strength. The local unit was expected to trade in the 1,865/75 range for the rest of Friday in a quiet market. “Long-term expectations are for a stronger shilling,” one traders said. UGX Spot Rate……………….. UGX= Ugandan Shilling Money Guide…. Calculated Cross Rates……….UGXX= Deposits…………………UGXDEPO= Deposits & Forwards………….UGXF= Uganda Equities Guide……. Uganda All Share Index………ALSIUG Shilling background …..   Continued… Visit link: Uganda shilling weakens slightly vs dollar (at Reuters)

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* Hopes to publish merger prospectus before year end * Appraisal drilling on Miran West to start this month * Plans to start production in Uganda in 2011 (Adds details) LONDON, Nov 17 (Reuters) – Heritage Oil ( HOIL.L )( HOC.TO ) said talks with Turkey’s Genel Energy are ongoing and that it hopes to reach a formal agreement on the proposed $6 billion merger before the end of the year. Last month, Heritage said the merger was delayed again, due to leadership changes in Kurdistan, adding to recent worries about investment in the semi-autonomous region of Iraq. [ID:nLJ704498] On Tuesday, Heritage said it hopes to publish the deal prospectus for shareholders to review before the end of the year. It announced the planned merger in June and had hoped to publish the prospectus in August. Heritage also said that appraisal drilling on Miran West structure in Kurdistan will start later this month with further appraisal and development drilling planned in 2010. The company added that activity in Block 1 in Uganda will resume in early 2010 and that it plans early commercialisation of the resources with production starting in 2011. It has $222 million in cash and said this is sufficient for the current planned work programmes in 2010. Heritage shares were 0.3 percent lower at 459.1 pence at 0824 GMT. (Reporting by Julie Crust ; editing by Matthew Scuffham ) © Thomson Reuters 2009 All rights reserved Read more: UPDATE 1-Heritage hopes to sign Genel merger by year end

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