President Barzani joins world leaders in Dubai for COP28

Shafaq News/ President of Iraq's Kurdistan region Nechirvan Barzani arrived in Dubai on Thursday to participate in the 28th Conference of the Parties (COP28) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).

Barzani, according to a press release by his bureau, was greeted by Sheikh Khalifa bin Tahnoon bin Mohammed Al Nahyan, chief of staff of the Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi, and Mustafa Al-Jabouri, the Iraqi ambassador to the United Arab Emirates.

The president is expected to deliver a speech at the conference, which opened on Thursday and will run until December 12.

Annual global climate talks are underway Thursday in Dubai against the backdrop of fractured global unity and concern about the influence of the fossil fuel industry as countries face a narrowing window to divert the planet from its disastrous path.

For the United Nations Climate Change Conference, known this year as COP28, the stakes are high — and so is the controversy, given that the oil-rich United Arab Emirates is the host.

Nations kicked off the two-week proceedings with an immediate achievement, approving the blueprint for a fund that would provide money to vulnerable nations hit hardest by climate change. But it remains to be seen whether wealthier countries, which are not mandated to contribute, will supply the sums that would make the fund meaningful.

More than 100 world leaders are scheduled to address the gathering Friday and Saturday. The speakers include French President Emmanuel Macron, British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, and Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, according to a list released by the Framework Convention on Climate Change.