Prime Minister Voreqe Bainimarama has been invited to a special summit of global leaders by the President of France, Emmanuel Macron in Paris in December.

Mr Bainimarama announced this during the launch of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) exhibition at the Fiji Museum in Suva last night.

He was in Kadavu last Friday when he received a call from Mr Macron and gave the heads-up and sought his support for the announcement he made last weekend of a special summit which will be held in Paris on December 12.

The summit is to mark the second anniversary of the Paris Agreement on climate change during COP21.

“The President invited me to be there and of course, I will be because it will be concentrating on one of the issues that is of most concern to me as Conference of Parties President – access to finance to do what vulnerable nations need to do to adapt to the terrifying new world that awaits us to build our resilience to the rising seas levels, extreme weather events and changes to agriculture caused by climate change,” Mr Bainimarama said.

“It will be just over three weeks after COP itself in Bonn but I agree with Mr Macron that we need to keep up the momentum.

“And the more we can focus global attention on this the better.

“Because as the new French Leader has said: ‘There is no plan B other than decisive climate action because there is no Planet B.’

“I very much appreciated Mr Macron telling me that he fully supports me in the Presidency of COP23.

“And that France fully supports Fiji as it builds a grand coalition of governments at all levels – civil society, the private sector and global citizens everywhere – to keep this process on track.

“I regard the new French Leader as a very important partner and we hope to forge a much closer relationship with France in the lead-up to COP and beyond,” Mr Bainimarama said.

Also, last night was the launch of the COP23 Presidency’s Pacific photo competition.

The competition began July 10, 2017, and ends August 18, 2017,

What/how to enter:

1. The human and/or environmental impacts of climate change; OR

2. How individuals and groups are mobilising to counter the threat posed by climate change. An entrant may submit either a new or existing photograph that has been shot by the entrant on or after January 1, 2015.

Please submit photographs and requested information in an e-mail sent to photos@cop23.com.fj.

You may submit no more than five photographs per individual.

To enter, participants must be over the age of 18 and reside in the Pacific.

The full details, including the rules of the competition, are available on the COP23 website.

Edited by Ranoba Baoa

Feedback:  ashna.kumar@fijisun.com.fj