Mira Al Suwaidi elected Rapporteur of the IPU meeting on the sidelines of COP28

The General Assembly of the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) has elected Mira Sultan Al Suwaidi, member of the Parliamentary Division Group of the Federal National Council of the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU), as Rapporteur of the outcomes of the IPU meeting, which will be held on the sidelines of the twenty-eighth session of the Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP28), which will be held in the UAE from November 30 to December 12, 2023.

Al Suwaidi was also elected Rapporteur of the draft resolution proposed by the UAE Parliamentary Division on the theme "Partnerships for Climate Action: Promoting Access to Affordable Green Energy, Ensuring Innovation, Responsibility and Equity", which was approved by the participants in the work of the 146th General Assembly of the Inter-Parliamentary Union held recently in the Kingdom of Bahrain.

"The issue of climate change is one of the difficult and complex issues, but we as parliamentarians and representatives of our peoples are in a position to achieve exceptional results through our legislative and oversight roles, and bridge the gap between all stakeholders," said Mira Al Suwaidi in the intervention of the Parliamentary Division during the work of the 146th General Assembly of the Inter-Parliamentary Union, on issues related to the follow-up of parliaments to advance climate action.

In the intervention, she reviewed the UAE's efforts in the issue of preserving the environment and climate, and said, "The protection of the environment was at the heart of the vision of the founding father, the late Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan, and in the footsteps of the founding father, His Highness Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, President of the UAE, may God protect him, for whom the environment is one of his top priorities, and His Highness's declaration of 2023 as the Year of Sustainability crowned the path of the UAE, which has always placed sustainability at the heart of the country. Its development plans, therefore, were among the first countries in the region to sign the Paris Agreement and adopted a strategy to reach climate neutrality by 2050.

She pointed out that the Federal National Council has worked with the UAE government in enacting many of the necessary legislations to find the appropriate balance between economic growth and environmental responsibility, as climate action has been placed at the heart of the UAE's development strategy, and at the institutional level, the Council has taken practical steps to reach green parliaments by providing the latest technologies and programs, eliminating the use of papers in the work of its committees and sessions, and adopting energy-saving solutions using smart systems.

She pointed out that the UAE is hosting the twenty-eighth session of the Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP28), expressing her hope that the conference will be an important milestone for climate action, as it will witness the first global stocktake to assess progress in implementing the goals of the Paris Agreement.

She stressed that COP28 will be a conference for solidarity and the participation of all stakeholders of different orientations, and dedicates the follow-up and supervision of countries' commitments, and focuses on practical solutions to achieve sustainable results. "From here, I invite you to work to increase the parliamentary role in the work of COP28, through the parliamentary meeting that will be held on the sidelines of this session, and that this session will be exceptional and fruitful, and a video was shown about the UAE's hosting of COP28," she said.