COP18 President Urges Timely End for Participants' Work

Doha, December 06 (QNA) - UN climate change conference (COP18) president HE Abdullah bin Hamad Al Attiyah has urged the different working groups in the conference along with ministers to end their work tonight, Thursday, and submit results to him tomorrow morning. "The whole world is looking at us. There is a rumor the conference will be extended for a few days. We have to prove our efficiency," HE Abdullah bin Hamad Al Attiyah said. "Tonight's work will be crucial and I urge you to cooperate and work together as one group. The process will end tomorrow," HE Al Attiyah said at a meeting held this evening to assess the progress made in the negotiations. In turn, Christina Figueres, U.N. Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCC) executive secretary, denied reports about the extension of the conference. Speaking to QNA, Figueres said there is no extension, noting that the conference has reached good results so far and a draft for the second phase of Kyoto Protocol was agreed and submitted to the ministers. The meeting, which was chaired by HE Abdullah bin Hamad Al Attiyah reviewed the progress of the working groups so as to reach specific results to be submitted to the president before being adopted at the end of the conference. The different countries in the meeting took the opportunity to explain their stances toward the ongoing negotiations, and agreed to accelerate tonight's work and reach satisfactory and positive results. (QNA)