Joe Biden will not attend the Cop28 climate
meeting in Dubai, US official says
US president is balancing the demands of a Middle East
war and a presidential campaign expected to heat up in January
Reuters
Mon 27 Nov
2023 03.31 GMT
US
President Joe Biden will not attend a gathering of world leaders focused on
climate change in Dubai this week, a US official said on Sunday.
The
announcement comes after the New York Times reported that Biden would not
attend.
Reuters
reported last month that he US president was unlikely to be at the United
Nations “Conference of the Parties” on climate, known as Cop28, which begins on
Thursday, as he balances the demands of a Middle East war and a presidential
campaign expected to heat up in January.
The
president’s schedule for Thursday released by the White House shows him hosting
a bilateral meeting with President João Manuel Gonçalves Lourenço of the
Republic of Angola and attending the National Tree Lighting.
Dozens of
countries plan to push for the world’s first deal to phase out CO2-emitting
coal, oil and gas at the Dubai meeting.
Biden has
attended both of the Cop summits since his 2021 inauguration.
The
fortnight-long talks will start this Thursday in Dubai, hosted by the United
Arab Emirates, a major oil and gas-producing country. Scores of world leaders,
senior ministers and officials from 198 countries will be in attendance, along
with an estimated 70,000 delegates, making it the biggest annual Cop yet held
under the 1992 UN framework convention on climate change.
The UK
prime minister, Rishi Sunak, is expected to attend, and King Charles will give
the opening speech, along with the UN secretary general, António Guterres, and
the UAE president, Mohammed bin Zayed al-Nahyan. The pope will also be there,
the European Commission president, Ursula von der Leyen, and an invitation has
been extended to Bashar al-Assad, the president of Syria.
Xi Jinping
of China is not expected to attend. Envoys for Biden and Xi have signalled
their close cooperation before the talks.
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