Obama invites SA to high-level forum on climate change

Monday, 30 March 2009

South Africa is among the sixteen nations to be invited to a series of high-level meetings on climate change to be convened by US President Barack Obama.

SA to represent Africa at Obama's meetings on climate change

South Africa is the only nation from Africa to be invited to the meetings, and as such will be representing the interests of the continent as a whole.

Known as the Major Economies Forum on Energy and Climate, the first of these meetings is scheduled to take place at the end of April in Washington DC with another to follow in June of this year.

According to a statement from the White House, the forums “will facilitate a candid dialogue among key developed and developing countries [and] help generate the political leadership necessary to achieve a successful outcome at the UN climate change negotiations to convene this December in Copenhagen.”

The meetings will also advance the exploration of concrete initiatives and joint ventures that increase the supply of clean energy while cutting greenhouse gas emissions.

South African leaders attending the Forum will be joined by representatives from Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, the European Union, France, Germany, Denmark, India, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, Korea, Mexico, Russia, the United Kingdom, and the United States.

Obama has also asked UN secretary-general Ban Ki Moon, to attend.