By Pita Ligaiula
Türkiye says the Pacific Pre-COP31 has built important momentum for COP31, with the incoming presidency promising to carry the spirit of dialogue and action from Fiji to the climate summit in Antalya.
COP31 CEO Fatma Varank, who is also Türkiye’s Deputy Minister of Environment, Urbanisation and Climate Change, said the discussions in Fiji and Tuvalu had been productive and would help shape the next phase of negotiations.
Speaking at the closing ceremony of Fiji’s hosting of the Pre-COP31, Varank thanked the governments and people of Fiji and Tuvalu for hosting the leaders and delegations and acknowledged the work of the negotiations team.
She said COP31 would be an important conference in terms of both its governance and the decisions expected to be adopted.
“COP31 will be a landmark conference, both in terms of its governance and the decisions it will adopt,” Varank said.
She said the incoming presidency would continue working to bring countries together around dialogue, consensus and action.
“As the COP31 Presidency and host, we will keep working to bring you together in dialogue, consensus and action,” she said.
Varank said the Pre-COP had created momentum that Türkiye wanted to maintain through to the conference in Antalya.
“There is no doubt that we have built truly important momentum here,” she said.
“We look forward to welcoming you in Antalya without losing sight of our work and without losing the spirit of moving forward together.”
Varank said Türkiye would host delegates in Antalya in three weeks as countries move towards the formal COP31 negotiations.
She expressed hope that COP31 would deliver significant decisions and produce concrete results through implementation.
“Hopefully, COP31 will deliver results and hopefully significant decisions will be made,” she said.
“And hopefully the results of the implementation of COP will yield great results for our common home, Earth.”
Australian Climate Change Minister Chris Bowen said the President-designate had found the Pre-COP discussions productive and useful.
“I think I can say with certainty that the President-designate of COP31 found the Pre-COP to be very productive, extremely helpful and useful,” Bowen said.
Varank thanked Bowen and other ministers, officials and participants for their contributions to the Pacific dialogue.
The closing ceremony marked the end of Fiji’s hosting of the Pacific Pre-COP31, which included a leaders’ visit to Tuvalu before discussions continued in Denarau.
The meeting has focused on climate finance, adaptation, resilience, implementation and the priorities of Pacific island countries ahead of COP31 in Türkiye.
