Prime Minister and COP23 President Voreqe Bainimarama has reiterated the need for nations to work cooperatively, build trust and put aside any difference to achieve the rules to make the Paris Agreement fully operational.

Bainimarama was speaking to Ministers of Environment and Climate Change as well as Climate Change Ambassadors during the Ministerial on Climate Action in Brussels recently which was co‑convened by Canada, China and the European Union.

On his role as COP23 President, Bainimarama says he was proud to oversee the resolution of the decision called the Fiji Momentum for Implementation.

Under this, he said, there were three elements which included;

providing a framing architecture to move the negotiations on the Paris Agreement Work Programme and its Implementation Guidelines forward and reiterating the urgency of having that work completed this year, highlighting the need for continued focus of all Parties on pre‑2020 action and support; and providing the design for the Talanoa Dialogue which we are now well underway with, and which will culminate with the political Talanoa in Poland

Canada’s Minister for Environment and Climate Change, China’s Special Representative for Climate Change Affairs and European Union Commissioner for Climate Action and Energy also spoke at the two day meeting.