The State of Qatar and the Republic of Korea have agreed to closely cooperate to make the next major UN Climate Change Conference at the end of 2012 a success.

Korea and Qatar to share the climate talks in 2012

The 2012 UN Climate Change Conference, COP 18/CMP 8 (the 18th Conference of Parties to the UNFCCC, plus the 8th session of the Conference of the Parties serving as the meeting of the Parties to the Kyoto Protocol), will take place in Qatar from 26 November to 7 December 2012.

The Republic of Korea will host a ministerial meeting to prepare for COP 18/CMP 8. Such ministerial meetings are a tradition in the UNFCCC negotiations and are instrumental in clarifying, at a high-level, central issues in the weeks before a COP.

The announcement was made at the UN Climate Change Conference in Durban (28 November to 9 December), following agreement among the Asian Group of countries.

“I congratulate these two countries on their commitment to work together in the lead up to and during the COP. Both countries are leaders in their own ways, and can generate strong synergies to put the world on a more climate-safe path,” said UNFCCC Executive Secretary Christiana Figueres. “All governments working together on the next essential climate steps can be inspired by this collaborative spirit,” she added.

The State of Qatar and the Republic of Korea will make joint efforts to globally promote and implement the green growth agenda at and in the run-up to the conference.

The Republic of Korea has championed the concept of the “green economy”, which links green growth to sustainable development and poverty eradication, and will be a central issue under discussion at the Rio+20 summit to be held in June next year in Rio de Janeiro.

The State of Qatar, as one of the world’s main energy exporters, expressed its eagerness in Durban to secure progress in the UN climate change negotiations, and support to the endeavours of developing countries, including small island developing States, in adapting to the inevitable effects of climate change.

The UNFCCCís annual Conferences of the Parties are rotated between the five UN regional groups, with the African Group this year hosting COP 17 in Durban, South Africa.