Minister of Foreign Affairs, Abdulla Shahid, today participated in a ministerial meeting hosted by the United States Special Presidential Envoy for Climate, John Kerry. During the virtual session, he was joined by Ministers from Sweden, Austria, Greece, Finland, Monaco, Switzerland, Estonia, Madagascar, Romania, North Macedonia, Malta, St Kitts & Nevis, Luxembourg, Kosovo, Guyana, Kazakhstan, Grenada, Guatemala, Federated States of Micronesia, Senegal and Latvia.

Minister Shahid delivered an intervention at the roundtable, speaking about the impacts of climate change and the Maldives' position for COP26. He welcomed the USA on their decision to rejoin the Paris Agreement and praised the US Government for their new and ambitious commitments towards bolder climate action. He further highlighted the many negative impacts that Small Island Developing States (SIDS) face due to climate change and how it is also a threat to our very survival. He called on both, the developed and developing countries to work for stronger climate action, given that the threat could only be countered effectively through concerted action.

Minister Shahid also highlighted that Maldives leads by example and noted the many ambitious goals we have set out, including the plan to phase out single use plastic by 2023 and achieving net zero emissions by 2030. Finally, he called for scaled up cooperation and recommitment by all countries towards urgent action in the lead up to COP26.

The Twenty Sixth Conference of Parties to the Untied Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP26) will be held in Glasgow, United Kingdom from 1-12 November 2021. This Ministerial Roundtable was convened as part of the activities leading up to COP26. The Maldives stands ready to work with its international partners in raising ambition and momentum in the lead up to and during COP26.