US, China climate envoys to 'meet later' at UN summit

Egypt, Nov. 16: U.S. climate envoy John Kerry indicated on Tuesday he'll hold talks with his Chinese counterpart at annual United Nations climate talks underway in Egypt, in the latest sign of improving relations between the world's top two polluters after a meeting between their leaders Monday.

When asked if he would be meeting with China’s top climate official Xie Zhenhua on Tuesday, Kerry told The Associated Press that “I will meet with him sometime later,” without being more specific. “We’re able to talk, we'll see what happens,” he said.

Chinese President Xi Jinping agreed a day earlier to resume climate change talks with the United States. Xi had put those contacts on hold three months earlier in retaliation for House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s trip to Taiwan.

Government ministers, who’ve been arriving in Sharm el-Sheikh since Monday, delivered impassioned speeches to delegates as they push for the meeting to clinch a substantial deal by Friday.

The prime minister of Samoa appealed Tuesday to countries to respond as strongly to the threat of global warming as they did to the coronavirus pandemic.

Fiam Naomi Mataafa said her country and other Pacific states are “at the mercy of climate change and our survival hangs in the rush of the climate hourglass.” She praised those major emitters who have made commitments to sharply cut their greenhouse gas emissions, but said those are still too few.

“Why is it not possible to apply the same level of urgency of action witnessed for the COVID-19 pandemic to the meeting of the 1.5 degree Celsius promise?,” she asked. She also called for more financial support to vulnerable countries, including the creation of a dedicated fund for “loss and damage” suffered as a result of climate change. She said failure to keep past funding promises had caused distrust.

“We cannot afford the further erosion of trust between the developed and developing countries,” she said. (AP)