Al-Attiyah attends climate conference

QNA/Bonn HE the Chairman of the Administrative Control and Transparency Authority and Chairman of the UN Climate Change Conference (COP 18) Abdullah bin Hamad al-Attiyah yesterday presided over the third meeting of the Bureau of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). UNFCCC Executive Secretary Christiana Figueres was among the top officials attending the event. Al-Attiyah expressed appreciation for the progress made in the discussions that took place during the first week of the sessions and underlined the importance of the implementation of the Doha Climate Gateway decisions. “Doha streamlined the negotiation process and parties need to make full use of negotiation time,” al-Attiyah said. He said “the Parties have concluded talks in the Petersburg Dialogue in Berlin, with the positive impression that it was a useful continuation of the discussions that took place in Bonn on a 2015 global climate treaty and what is required is to increase climate action before any future treaty takes effect.” “Our meeting in Berlin was, in fact, key to voicing concerns and identifying ways to deal with the rising challenge of climate change,” al-Attiyah added. He said the meeting also stressed the need to encourage action by all stakeholders keeping in mind that the private sector has a key role, as well as designing an ambitious, fair and balanced 2015 climate agreement that takes into account fulfilling the commitment made in previous negotiations streams.