30th, November 2015

Paris: Assigned by His Majesty Sultan Qaboos , His Highness Sayyid Shihab bin Tareq al Said, and his official accompanying delegation took part in the opening ceremony of the 21st Climate Conference (Conference of States Parties) which began in Paris on Monday and continues until December 11. The Sultanate of Oman has pledged to the global community to cut down its expected green house gases emission by two per cent by 2030.

Francois Hollande President of France inaugurated  the conference, which was held at Le Bourget Center in Paris North Suburb, in the presence of 150 world leaders, besides representatives of the heads of a number of states and heads of governments, experts, journalists and representatives of international bodies and organisations and NGOs.  The 2-week conference aims to prepare the first agreement under which the international community is committed to reducing greenhouse gas emissions in order to limit global warming to two degrees C (3.6 F).

HH Sayyid Shihab met separately with Dr Ikililou Dhoinine, President of Comoros, President Macky Sall of Senegal, President Toomas Ilves of Estonia, President Raimonds Vējonis of Latvia, Albert II, Prince of Monaco, Angela Merkel, Chancellor of Germany, Khaled Bahah, Vice-President and Prime Minister of Yemen.

HH Sayyid Shihab conveyed the greetings of His Majesty to the leaders along with his wishes of further progress and prosperity to their peoples. The meetings reviewed the matters of common concern.

The leaders expressed their greetings to His Majesty wishing him good health and long life and the Omani people more progress and prosperity.

The Paris climate summit will be the springboard for billion-dollar initiatives designed to leverage the huge investments for encouraging clean technology and helping poor countries go green.

First up was “Mission Innovation,” launched by heads of state including US President Barack Obama and his French counterpart Francois Hollande, as well as Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates.

The multi-billion-dollar initiative sees 20 countries — including the Saudi Arabia, India, China, Indonesia and Brazil — pledging to double their investment in developing clean technology over five years.

“Mission Innovation responds to the urgency of climate change, the opportunity of technological innovation, and the international imperative to tackle this problem in a global way,” said the White House in a statement. Gates is spearheading a parallel, private-sector part of the plan that will bring together 28 big-name investors — including Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg, Virgin founder Richard Branson and magnate-philanthropist George Soros in the search for new green technologies.

— ONA and Agencies