PM Calls For Trust And Co-Operation
Prime Minister and COP23 President Voreqe Bainimarama has reiterated the need for nations to work cooperatively, build trust and put aside any difference to achieve the rules to make the Paris Agreement fully operational.
Mr Bainimarama was speaking to Ministers of Environment and Climate Change as well as Climate Change Ambassadors during the Ministerial on Climate Action (MoCA) in Brussels last week. It was co-convened by Canada, China and the European Union.
On his role as COP23 President, Mr Bainimarama said he was proud to oversee the resolution of the decision called the Fiji Momentum for Implementation.
Under this, he said, there were three elements which included:
– providing a framing architecture to move the negotiations on the Paris Agreement Work Programme and its Implementation Guidelines forward and reiterating the urgency of having that work completed this year;
– highlighting the need for continued focus of all Parties on pre-2020 action and support – which will be achieved in part through the stocktakes to take place at COP24 and COP25; and
– providing the design for the Talanoa Dialogue which we are now well underway with, and which will culminate with the political Talanoa in Katowice (Poland)
“A message that I have heard consistently as COP President, and that I take very seriously, is that enhanced post-2020 ambition and action are inextricably linked to enhanced pre-2020 ambition and actions,” Mr Bainimarama said.
On the stocktake, Prime Minister Bainimarama said it will take place during COP24 in Katowice which will provide “a very important political moment for Parties to take stock of progress achieved to date and to share their experiences on pre-2020 implementation and ambition.”
“It provides an opportunity to explore solutions with high potential based on gaps identified and lessons learned.”
Canada’s Minister for Environment and Climate Change, Catherine McKenna, China’s Special Representative for Climate Change Affairs, Xie Zhenhua and European Union Commissioner for Climate Action and Energy Miguel Canete also spoke at the two-day meeting.
