London (Parliament Politics Magazine) – Keir Starmer has no plans to meet the delegation of Taliban during the COP29 climate summit in Baku.
The Downing Street spokesperson has confirmed that the prime minister has “no plans” to meet the Taliban at COP29. Prime Minister Keir Starmer begins a diplomatic tour this week, starting with a meeting with French President Emmanuel Macron in Paris before attending the COP29 climate talks in Baku.
The militant group who’s in power and took control of Afghanistan after the US-led Western exit in 2021, is ready to send an official delegation to the climate summit in Baku this week. Militant group spokesperson confirmed on Sunday that they will be sending their delegates to a UN-led conference for the first time since they assumed control of AFG in 2021.
In response to the question on Sir Keir Starmer’s stance on the Taliban’s attendance, his spokesperson replied, “I think attendance is a matter for the organisers, but more broadly the summit I think is bringing together 96 different delegations from across the world and the objective is obviously to strengthen global climate action and engagement on that issue. A Number 10 spokeswoman said, “No plans to meet with them”.
She added, “It is obviously vital that we approach the talks and the event with that common purpose (at the) forefront of our mind”.
The COP summits globally recognized as important in addressing climate change are ready for their 29th session this year with delegates gathering in Baku, Azerbaijan’s capital. US and Chinese presidents are not attending this session.
Many G7 leaders, including German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, French President Emmanuel Macron, and EU President Ursula von der Leyen, have already confirmed they will not attend this summit in Baku.
The main purpose of this year’s summit is to secure and gather more funds for developing countries devasted by climate change. Afghanistan is the world’s most impacted nation where over 300 people were killed due to flash flooding in March.
Matuil Haq Khalis, head of Afghanistan’s environment, told the Associated Press that the country is in dire need of global support to address its extreme weather conditions, such as ongoing droughts and irregular rainfall.
He also stated that the Afghan representatives were really grateful to Azerbaijan’s government for inviting them to the climate summit starting on Monday.
In today’s session, they discussed the alarming situation that the world is on track for a catastrophic 3.1 C increase in global temperatures.
Many representatives have not attended the opening summit, and with oil and gas-rich Azerbaijan hosting the event, it’s unclear how much progress will be made on important issues like reducing emissions and ending fossil fuel use.
These leaders will also be discussing Trump’s return to the White House and experts believe climate scepticism is showing up more in this year’s elections.
The elected president is expected to promote fossil fuels and cut back on green incentives, including pulling the US out of the global Paris Agreement again which seeks to limit global warming to 1.5 C.