HE Al-Attiyah Participates in Climate Change Symposium

Tokyo, March 03 (QNA) - HE Chairman of Qatar's Administrative Control and Transparency Authority Abdullah bin Hamad Al-Attiyah, who is Chairman of the UN Climate Change Conference COP18, participated on Saturday in the dialogue symposium with global negotiators titled "the Future of Climate Change Regime and Environmental Issues". Among the attendees was Japanese Parliamentary Senior Vice-Minister for Foreign Affairs Ryuji Yamane and a number of high-ranking officials and experts on the environment and climate change. HE Chairman of the Administrative Control and Transparency Authority stressed in his speech the significance of the contributions and suggestions of civil society groups pointing to the significance of listening to all views. "It's important for me to listen to all of you. Your inputs and contribution are very important for the success of the COP at the end of this year," HE said. He highlighted the important decisions adopted in COP17 in Durban, which would encourage all the sides to work efficiently to make Doha's convention a success, something that would be attained through working together and listening to each other. HE Abdullah bin Hamad Al-Attiyah reminded the audience of the decisions adopted in Durban such as the operationalization of Green Climate Fund, the establishment of a second commitment period under the Kyoto Protocol, the decision on long-term cooperative action under the Convention, and the launch of new negotiation process for enhanced actions beyond 2020. In order to enrich the discussion, HE asked some questions for the audience to reflect on in their interventions. The first question was about the remaining issues that can be completed in COP18, in order to successfully conclude the current stage of negotiations and launch the next phase. "What do we need to do, under the Durban platform, in order to set the stage for the next phase of the negotiations?" HE asked in his second question. In his last question, HE Abdullah bin Hamad Al-Attiyah asked about the steps needed to maintain the momentum for this year and for the negotiation process. HE Qatar's ambassador to Japan Yousif Mohamed Bilal attended the symposium along with members of the delegation accompanying HE Chairman of the Administrative Control and Transparency Authority. (QNA)