Ambassadors of Morocco and France to UN Chair Meeting on Climate

United Nations – Morocco’s Permanent Representative to the UN, ambassador Omar Hilale, and Permanent Representative of France to the UN, ambassador Nicolas de Rivière, in their capacity as co-chairs of the Group of Friends on Climate at the United Nations, organized on Friday a virtual meeting marked by the participation of the club of former COP presidents.

On this occasion, they sent a strong message and recalled that despite the current global context, meeting climate commitments is more necessary than ever in 2020.

Indeed, this year represents a milestone in the international community’s commitment to the fight against climate change and marks the fifth anniversary of the adoption of the Paris Climate Agreement on 12 December 2015.

In his opening statement, ambassador Hilale recalled that 2020 is also the year when States must collectively demonstrate renewed ambition by presenting more ambitious nationally determined contributions (NDCs) and long-term climate strategies.

In this respect, he stressed that Morocco remains determined to maintain a high climate ambition, despite the current difficult health and economic context. The Kingdom maintains its ambition for climate action, ensuring food security and accelerating the energy transition.

“We are continuing our national efforts to rebuild better and more sustainably,” the Moroccan ambassador said at the meeting, which was also marked by the participation of Selwin Hart, Special Adviser to the UN Secretary-General and Assistant Secretary-General of the Climate Action Team.

“At the same time, we must not lose sight of the fact that developing countries face the worst climate impacts, especially on the African continent,” he said.

As the world starts to plan for recovery from the pandemic, Hilale said, our Group of Friends on Climate calls on governments to seize the opportunity to “build back better” by creating more sustainable, resilient and inclusive societies.

For his part, Salaheddine Mezouar, president of COP-22 in Marrakech, stressed the necessary link in this unprecedented global context marked by profound upheavals, 2020 being an important year full of “ambitions” for climate action.

Mezouar noted that the current health crisis offers an opportunity to “reshape” the global economy into a green, fair, clean and resilient economy.

He also warned that Africa remains the continent hardest hit by this crisis and its health, economic and financial fallout, which risks turning into a humanitarian crisis.

On this occasion, Salaheddine Mezouar highlighted Morocco’s solidarity with African countries in the context of the Covid-19 pandemic, coupled with a dynamic of coordination and consultation with several of these States.