Argentina to host climate change summit in region, but participation of Brazil and Mexico in question

It is one of the predominant topics of his agenda and coincides with the initiatives and concerns of his American counterpart, Joseph Biden. This is why it is not surprising that President Alberto Fernández arranged organize a Latin American Summit on Climate Change on Wednesday September 8. Although several countries have already confirmed their participation, there are two “giants” that have not yet done so: Mexico and Brazil.

The meeting, which will be held virtually from 10 a.m. next Wednesday, came after conversations the Argentine president had with John Kerry, Biden’s special envoy for climate change on May 14 in Rome. It will serve as a prelude to the United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP26) which will take place from October 31 to November 12 at the Scottish Event Campus in Glasgow, Scotland, following the G-20 leaders meeting.

With Argentina, this Latin American summit will be co-organized by Barbados, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Panama and the Dominican Republic. With Mexico, during the last diplomatic contacts between the two countries, the question was not present and it is unlikely that the head of state of this country, Andrés Manuel López Obrador, will join, despite his very good relations with the Argentine president. The same is happening with Brazil; in the latter case, because Jair Bolsonaro is not very interested in intervening in this agenda.

The government led by Alberto Fernández is aligned with that of Biden because Both agree that climate change is an issue that needs to be addressed urgently so that the guidelines set out in the Treaty of Paris, signed in 2015 by 196 countries at COP-21, are respected.. At that time, there was a commitment to undertake ambitious efforts to tackle climate change and adapt to its effects, with increased support to help developing countries do so.

The American president, who has a position diametrically opposed to that of his predecessor in the White House, Donald Trump, invited the Argentinian head of state to participate in the climate change summit which was held on April 22 during of his outfit. Earth Day “.

In this context, on October 7 and 8, Sergio Massa, President of the Chamber of Deputies, will be one of the exhibitors in Rome during the G20 Summit of Presidents of Parliament under the slogan “Parliaments for the peoples, the planet and prosperity “. ‘ The Climate change will be discussed and also on the plans proposed by the nations that make it up to recover their savings after the coronavirus pandemic affecting the planet.

During his tour of various European countries in early May, Fernández had an audience with Kerry. Before leaving for Fiumicino airport to return to our country, the Argentine president briefly mentioned this meeting which lasted about an hour. “He was central on climate change, I told him a little bit about the conversation I had with Georgieva, I suggested that we should think about ways of financing for countries that are fighting climate change and that this could happen with debtor countries, which instead of providing resources could reduce debt, ”he reviewed.

Kerry also gave her conclusions from this conclave: “We had an excellent meeting. We are talking about climate change and the challenge ahead. The president is very interested in helping Latin American countries and his leadership on the climate issue is welcome ”.

“The key to climate change is for all countries to work together and cooperate. We had good conversations with Argentina before that “added Kerry, who warned that one of the biggest concerns was the Amazon in Brazil: “We look forward to working with Bolsonaro to move forward. We have had several conversations with the Minister of the Environment. We work as a team and we seek to progress ”.

The “High-Level Dialogue on Climate Action in the Americas” will be called the Summit to be held next week and will take place in three segments.

They will be present, in addition to Alberto Fernández; the Prime Minister of Barbados, Mia Amor Mottley; the President of Colombia, Iván Duque Márquez; the President of Costa Rica, Carlos Álvarez Quesada; the President of Panama, Laurentino Cortizo; the President of the Dominican Republic, Luis Abinader; and Chile’s Minister of the Environment and President of COP 25, Carolina Schmidt. The presence of United States Special Envoy for Climate, John Kerry, and United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres, also stand out.