President Hage Geingob on Monday departed for Dubai in the United Arab Emirates to participate in the 28th Conference of the Parties (COP28) to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCC) and High-Level Events of the Global Stocktake (GST).
The meeting is scheduled to start tomorrow.
The Presidency said in a statement that the head of State has been invited by Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, president of the United Arab Emirates.
“This year’s UN climate change conference, COP28, is a pivotal opportunity to correct course and accelerate action to tackle the climate crisis, with global temperatures hitting record highs and extreme weather events affecting people around the globe. It serves as an international platform for climate dialogues as well as to advance and steer the course of climate negotiations among parties to the UNFCC,” the Presidency said.
It further noted that COP28 is being held at a significant moment and will see the conclusion of the first GST of the Paris Agreement, which will assess global progress made and identify areas for the world to work towards greater climate action.
The GST, which was established by Article 14 of the Paris Agreement, aims to assess the collective progress towards achieving the purpose of the agreement.
The statement said Namibia welcomes and values the opportunity to participate in this crucial summit as a country heavily impacted by climate change.
“Namibia is at an advanced stage with initiatives to start producing clean energy through green hydrogen to respond to the global challenges of climate change and meet global energy demand.
“Hence, the summit will provide Namibia with an opportunity to showcase its ambition of becoming a green hydrogen superpower in the coming decade by positioning itself as an international exporter of green hydrogen,” the Presidency said.
Over 70 000 delegates are expected to attend COP28, which will last until 12 December.
In addition, Geingob will participate in the Summit of G-77 and China Leaders on Climate Change and will also attend an initial meeting of the Critical Raw Materials Club that is organised by the European Commission.
– Nampa