Speech by His Excellency President Dr. Rashad Mohammed Al-Alimi at the Dubai Climate Summit (COP28)
Fri ، 01 Dec 2023 13:39
Dubai
In the name of Allah, the most gracious, the most merciful
“His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed, President of the United Arab Emirates
Your Majesties, Excellencies, and Highnesses Heads of State and Government,,
Mr. António Guterres, Secretary-General of the United Nations,
Ladies and gentlemen,
At the beginning, I would like to express my sincere appreciation and sincere congratulations to the brothers in the United Arab Emirates for the impressive organization and generous hosting of this high-level world summit. I would like also to express my thanks to the United Nations and its Secretary-General for his coordinated efforts with the concerned parties in order to reach this new station to confront the accelerating risks that threaten the present and future of our planet.
Allow me, honorable attendees, to seize this opportunity to congratulate our great Yemeni people on the occasion of Independence Day, the thirtieth of glorious November. I also congratulate my brother, His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed, his fellow rulers, and the dear Emirati people on the National Day of this brotherly country, which represents the most wonderful fraternal stances towards our people, their legitimate leadership, and their right to restore state institutions, security, stability, and peace.
I would like to express my congratulations to my brother, the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques, King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, and his Crown Prince, His Royal Highness Prince Mohammed bin Salman, on the occasion of the Kingdom’s winning bid to host World Expo 2030.
It is also an opportunity to renew our absolute solidarity with all peoples who yearn for freedom and peace, and at the forefront is the Palestinian people, who are fighting for their pride and dignity, and the establishment of their independent, fully sovereign state.
Ladies and Gentlemen,,
About a year ago, we met in Egypt in El-Kinana for the same goals that place us every time before heavy responsibilities and crucial commitments that must be fulfilled to protect our planet, in light of the increasing risks of climate change with every new rise in temperature that has reached its record peak this year.
Here we are today, meeting in Dubai, in the United Arab Emirates, which learned its way early to transition towards green holdings, inspired by its founder, the late Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan, may God rest his soul, in the hope that we will see real progress in collective efforts to reduce emissions, build adaptive capacity, and enhance financing climate programmes, especially those directed to our least developed countries, whose losses increase year after year.
Your Majesties, Excellencies and Highnesses,
Ladies and Gentlemen,,
Last month, we shared with our people in the governorates of Al-Mahra, Socotra, and Hadramaut difficult days in the heart of the worst tropical storm witnessed by our country afflicted by the Houthi militia war supported by the Iranian regime. This means that we are not better than last year, and it seems that we will not be better in the coming years, if our response to climate change continues in such, that it is limited in its actions, and not based on justice, equity, and shared responsibilities.
Cyclone "Tej" left entire cities isolated from their surroundings, and caused severe damage to basic services. The floods also swept away vast agricultural holdings, turning them into a pile of stones and sand that buried everything in its path, including water wells, electrical grid lines,
communications, and temporarily pushed thousands of residents away from their homes, adding to the millions displaced from the oppression of the terrorist Houthi militias over the past ten years.
The Yemeni government stood alone in facing the burden of this disaster, and it did not have much to offer to repair the destroyed roads, make amends to the people, and help them adapt to the climate changes that have become an annual date of suffering. In light of the multiplicity of fronts on which the state is working to fulfill the inevitable obligations for citizens, to defend dignity and freedom against the projects of the Houthi militias and the terrorist organizations serving them, the most recent of which were the organized piracy operations and armed robbery of commercial ships in regional and international waters.
Ladies and gentlemen, Yemen is facing extremely difficult security, economic and political challenges as a result of the ongoing war, which the Houthi militias reject all initiatives to stop and end the worst human suffering in the world, which makes the national effort in confronting the dangers of climate change extremely complex, and requires additional burdens exceed the already scarce capabilities of government institutions.
As stated in the recommendations of the leaders during the previous session of this conference, it is necessary for all developing countries, especially those mired in armed conflicts, to feel that their priorities are being responded to, that their exceptional circumstances are taken into account, and that they bear their responsibilities to the extent of their capabilities, and to the extent they get appropriate support and funding.
Your Majesties, Excellencies and Highnesses,,
Ladies and Gentlemen,,
We have to work to stimulate collective efforts and enhance the gains achieved in confronting climate change, including the creative initiatives that many countries in the region are working on. However, the reference reports still indicate a huge amount of benefits required to protect our planet and secure a better future for next generations.
Despite the achieved progress, there is much that must be done to limit climate change, or adapt to it, and mitigate its effects, as efforts to maintain global warming at 1.5 degrees Celsius are lagging behind, and developing and least developed countries are still paying the greatest price for this slowdown in implementation.
In our country, the need for electricity in light of the compelling circumstances of war has contributed to the launch of a broad societal effort to shift towards solar energy, whose cumulative capacity may reach about 400 megawatts nationwide. It is an effort that we encourage, and will build on, and make it safer and more sustainable.
We also saw how the emerging business community built its small projects, farmers, and school laboratories relying on this type of renewable energy, which not only means a growing economy, but a healthier and cleaner one.
Here we would like to indicate with pride and appreciation to the contribution of our brothers in the United Arab Emirates in supporting renewable energy projects, the first package of which was entered in the city of Aden with a capacity of 120 megawatts, with the hope of increasing these projects to five hundred megawatts.
In order to enhance these efforts, we strongly agree that the principle of “Unity for Implementation,” which this session chose as its slogan, is what we need now to fulfill our national obligations, launch ambitious contributions capable of bringing the world together around specific goals, and be open to new initiatives that the United Arab Emirates intends to present during the days of this high level conference.
What is more important to us, dear leaders, is for your negotiators to be flexible and to deal responsibly and seriously with the needs of our developing and least developed countries, which bear the greatest burden of emissions and lag behind in collective efforts to mitigate, predict, or adapt to them. This is the opportunity for you to be the leaders who have already contributed to saving the planet and protecting it for many generations to come.
Peace, mercy and blessings of Allah,,
President Al-Alimi receives family of heroic martyr Ali Nasser Hadi
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