As part of his global tour to listen to stakeholders

COP28 President-designate meets Macron in Paris

During his meeting with Macron, Sultan Al Jaber stressed the UAE's keenness to strengthen bilateral relations with France. From the source

The Minister of Industry and Advanced Technology and President-designate of COP28, Dr. Sultan Ahmed Al-Jaber, paid a visit to Paris, during which he met with French President Emmanuel Macron, where he conveyed to him the greetings of the leadership and its keenness to strengthen bilateral relations between the two friendly countries. He also met with a range of climate officials from government and civil society. The visit was part of a global tour to listen to stakeholders in preparation for the UAE hosting the conference in November.

During his meetings, Sultan Al Jaber explained the vision of the leadership in the UAE on achieving a qualitative leap in climate action, stressing the importance of achieving progress in the topics of mitigation, adaptation, climate finance, loss and damage, and stressed the need to provide climate finance, and the need to develop the performance of multilateral financial institutions to provide the necessary capital to finance clean technologies, adaptation efforts, and address losses and damages.

Sultan Al Jaber stressed keenness to cooperate with France during the summit dedicated to reaching a new global financial agreement, to be held in Paris in June 2023, in an effort to build momentum ahead of the Conference of the Parties.

"We will focus on building on the momentum of the new Global Financial Compact Summit to achieve practical achievements at COP28, as this summit will be an important milestone ahead of COP<>, during which we must focus on attracting private sector financing, expanding concessional financing, and advancing carbon markets," he said.

Sultan Al Jaber met with a range of climate officials from government and civil society, IEA Executive Director Fatih Birol, former Prime Minister of France and COP21 President Laurent Fabius, French Minister of Economy, Finance and Recovery Bruno Le Maire, and Agnès Pané Ronachet, Minister of Energy Transition, stressing the need to mobilize all efforts and resources necessary to achieve a successful and equitable transition in the global energy sector, and the need for countries to fulfill their commitments under the Paris Climate Agreement in 2015.

During a special roundtable hosted by the International Energy Agency (IEA), attended by ambassadors from 50 countries representing developing economies and OECD countries, Sultan Al Jaber stressed an opportunity to unite the efforts of all sectors in order to achieve the desired progress in climate action.

He said: "We need the cooperation of all segments of society, including governments, the private sector and civil society, to ensure that they move in the same direction, because the world is progressing through partnership, not closure and division, and I have a firm conviction in our common ability to achieve the greatest radical transformation in human growth and prosperity rates since the first industrial revolution, if our efforts join hands and conclude smart partnerships."

In another meeting with members of the NGO community, Sultan Al Jaber pointed to the need for commitment, action and optimism, pointing to the need for a "radical correction process" by saying: "We intend to respond to the results of the global outcome, and start correcting the course by advancing progress on each pillar of the Paris Agreement," and called on NGOs to support the COP28 presidency, saying: "We need your ideas, your opinions, your networks, your research, your data, your passion... We are confident that constructive dialogue will enhance the effectiveness of efforts to mitigate the repercussions of climate change and build a better future for all."

Shamma bint Suhail Al Mazrouei, Minister of Community Development, Climate Pioneer for Youth at COP28, participated in the visit, where she met with a number of stakeholders, and stressed the need for all parties to participate in the dialogue, and their contribution to the agenda of the Conference of the Parties, saying: "The world needs COP28 to be an inclusive conference that includes all parties, and we need everyone to join hands and join forces, in universities, cities, civil society organizations, nature conservation groups, and every government and industrial sector, especially the young generation."

It is worth noting that the UAE has well-established relations with the Republic of France in various fields, including the field of transition in the energy sector and climate finance action, and the two countries cooperate in many energy and sustainability projects, and in February 2023, the UAE and France launched a partnership to reduce carbon emissions from emission-intensive industries, which will be announced during COP28, while in July 2022 the two countries signed the Comprehensive Strategic Partnership in the field of energy, which focuses on enhancing energy security, providing it at reasonable costs, and reducing energy Emissions, as well as driving effective climate action in preparation for COP28.

Shamma Al Mazrouei stresses the need for all parties to contribute to the COP28 agenda.