South African President Cyril Ramaphosa will chair a video summit with BRICS leaders on Tuesday to discuss the Israel-Hamas conflict.
The heads of state of six countries invited to join the group earlier this year — Saudi Arabia, Iran, Egypt, Ethiopia, Argentina and the United Arab Emirates — will attend the talks, the presidency said in a statement on Monday. United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres will also participate in the virtual meeting, it said.
“President Ramaphosa will deliver opening remarks at the BRICS extraordinary meeting, where member and invited states will also deliver country statements on the current humanitarian crisis in Gaza,” the South African presidency said.
The discussions will be the first by leaders of the bloc that groups Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa since the six nations were invited to join the group at its annual summit in August. Chinese President Xi Jinping will deliver a speech at the meeting, according to a government statement.
China is this week hosting senior officials from Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Egypt and the Palestinian Authority for two days of talks aimed at deescalating the war. The discussions will touch on protecting civilians and seeking a “just settlement of the Palestinian question,” China’s Foreign Ministry said in a statement.
India’s economy will become carbon neutral by the year 2070, the country’s prime minster has announced at the COP26 climate crisis summit in Glasgow. The target date is two decades beyond what scientists say is needed to avert catastrophic climate impacts. India is the last of the world’s major carbon polluters to announce a net-zero target, with China saying it would reach that goal in 2060, and the United States and the European Union aiming for 2050.
China's carbon emissions are vast and growing, dwarfing those of other countries. Experts agree that without big reductions in China's emissions, the world cannot win the fight against climate change. In 2020, China's President Xi Jinping said his country would aim for its emissions to reach their highest point before 2030 and for carbon neutrality before 2060. His statement has now been confirmed as China's official position ahead of the COP26 global climate summit in Glasgow. But China has not said exactly how these goals will be achieved.
China's carbon emissions are vast and growing, dwarfing those of other countries. Experts agree that without big reductions in China's emissions, the world cannot win the fight against climate change. In 2020, China's President Xi Jinping said his country would aim for its emissions to reach their highest point before 2030 and for carbon neutrality before 2060. His statement has now been confirmed as China's official position ahead of the COP26 global climate summit in Glasgow. But China has not said exactly how these goals will be achieved.
A crucial U.N. conference heard calls on its first day for the world's major economies to keep their promises of financial help to address the climate crisis, while big polluters India and Brazil made new commitments to cut emissions. World leaders, environmental experts and activists all pleaded for decisive action to halt the global warming which threatens the future of the planet at the start of the two-week COP26 summit in the Scottish city of Glasgow on Monday. The task facing negotiators was made even more daunting by the failure of the Group of 20 major industrial nations to agree ambitious new commitments at the weekend.