The Diplomat
The Ambassador of the United Arab Emirates in Madrid, Majid Al Suwaidi, will soon leave his post to coordinate the preparation of the United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP28), which will take place in the autumn of 2023 in Dubai, The Diplomat has learned.
Majid Al Suwaidi, who will go to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Friday to bid farewell to the Minister, José Manuel Albares, presented his Letters of Credence to the King in September 2020 and since then he has been intensely active in promoting bilateral relations with Spain and in publicising the Dubai Expo, scheduled for 2020, but which will finally be held between October 2021 and April 2022.
The Emirati authorities have chosen Al Suwaidi to coordinate the work of COP28, which will give continuity to the Conference to be held in November this year in Sharm El Shikh (Egypt), which will be COP27, taking into account his knowledge of Climate Change, as he was the Emirati negotiator in the climate agreement reached in Paris in 2015.
In September last year, when the UAE was vying to be the country chosen to host COP28, Al-Suwaidi, who was in the process of defending the bid, pointed out that his country is a leader on environmental issues, has the resources to address them and is also able to understand the problems of developing countries.
“The UAE has already been one of the most ambitious countries in the world in terms of the policies we set and the goals we have set for ourselves and the actions we have taken,” said Al-Suwaidi.
The still ambassador in Madrid also pointed out that when asked why the Emirates, being a fossil fuel producer, is so interested in renewable energy, the answer he gives is: “We are a country that is interconnected with the world and we feel the effects of things like climate change first. We are thinking about the future. We are thinking about how, when the last barrel of oil is produced, we will be in a much better place…”.
The initially planned dates for COP28 are 6-17 November and will take place at the Dubai Expo 2020, which due to the pandemic has been rescheduled to 2021-2022.
