President-designate of the 26th UN Climate Change Conference of the Parties (COP26) and British MP Alok Sharma called on Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday during which they discussed the India-UK collaboration on climate change issues in the run up to the crucial meet.
COP refers to the decision-making body of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), the 26th session of which will be hosted by the UK in November 2021 in Glasgow.
“Pleased to meet with COP26 President-designate @AlokSharma_RDG today. We discussed India-UK cooperation on climate change agenda and COP26,” Modi tweeted after the meet.
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“My best wishes to U.K. for successful organisation of the climate summit,” he said.
Mr. Sharma, the president-designate of the 26th UN Climate Change Conference of the Parties, called on Prime Minister Modi during which they discussed India-UK collaboration on climate change issues in the run up to COP26, according to a Prime Minister’s Office statement.
Prime Minister Modi reiterated India’s commitment to the Paris Agreement and to work constructively for the successful outcome at COP26. Mr. Sharma warmly recalled the Prime Minister’s address at the Climate Ambition Summit in December, 2020, the PMO said.
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Mr. Modi also expressed his commitment to work with his British counterpart Boris Johnson to further strengthen the India-UK ties. A U.K. government statement said Mr. Sharma and Prime Minister Modi met to discuss their countries’ shared commitment to climate action in the lead up to the COP26 summit in Glasgow this year.
Mr. Sharma congratulated PM Modi on his ambition to deliver a significant increase in renewable energy, set out at the Climate Ambition Summit the UK co-hosted in December 2020, and for his personal leadership on tackling climate change, the British statement said.
Mr. Sharma outlined the UK’s net zero commitment and said that, as hosts of COP26, the U.K. had sent a clear message to the world in setting an ambitious new Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC), according to the statement.
They agreed that progress on making sure the most vulnerable countries were able to adapt to the impacts of climate change was critical and that to do this governments must meet their climate finance commitments, it said.
Mr. Sharma and Mr. Modi also discussed the importance of governments, businesses and individuals working to tackle climate change and said they looked forward to continuing their close work ahead of COP26.
Mr. Sharma also met External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar during which discussions on India’s green growth initiatives were held.
“Glad to meet COP26 President-designate @AlokSharma_RDG. Good discussions on India’s Green Growth initiatives and the climate change agenda,” Mr. Jaishankar said in a tweet.
Mr. Sharma also met Environment Minister Prakash Javadekar.
“India looks forward to the UK leadership to deliver on the unresolved issues of the Paris Agreement, including long-term climate finance and other key issues,” Mr. Javadekar tweeted after the meeting.