COP18 Draws 16,000 Participants, Over 6,600 Observers

Doha, December 08 (QNA) - HE Abdulaziz bin Ahmed Al Maliki, General Coordinator of the 18th session of the UN climate change conference (COP18/CMP8), said that the conference draw 16,000 participants, and attended by over 6,600 observers from civil society and non-governmental organizations as well as more than 800 media representatives. The General Coordinator told reporters today that the Conference's organizing committee booked some 70,000 hotel rooms for participants of the conference that was hosted by the State of Qatar over the past two weeksm saying that the participants came from more than 194 countries, and exchanged their views and had a serious debates. Al Malki congratulated Qatar on the adoption of the General Secretariat to COP's decision on the second period of the Kyoto Protocol, making this conference a great success. He also underlined the success of the sustainable development exhibition organized on the sidelines of the Conference, adding that more than 10,500 people visited the expo over the two weeks. He also noted the participants' satisfaction and happiness as well as their good impressions on the building of Qatar National Convention Centre. For his part, Chairman of the Sub-Committee Fahad bin Mohammed Al Attiyah hailed the great achievements made during the conference, which culminated in today's historic moment. He stressed that the organization of the conference was also a remarkable success in terms of logistics. Qatar, he said, has proved to the world that it can deliver and can bring about great results. "Today's achievement in the adoption of the second commitment period of the Kyoto Protocol is good example," he said. "The Protocol will continue over the next eight years and a journey of action and implementation in this context will begin," he said. He predicted that the coming period would witness great changes by the year 2015 due to the global agreement that will come into force in 2020. (QNA)