French President Francois Hollande said it was mankind’s duty to have a binding, ambitious and universal agreement on climate change in Paris next week.
Breaking off his anti-terrorism tour in capitals across Europe and America, Mr Hollande made a brief stopover in Malta yesterday to address Commonwealth leaders as they discussed climate change.
At the meeting, leaders of the 53-nation bloc heard Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announce that Canada will contribute $2.65 billion over the next five years to help developing countries tackle climate change.
But leaders also approved a new Commonwealth institute that will enable small countries to access climate financing. It will be headquartered in Mauritius, and Australia said it would make a substantial contribution to finance this institute.
The pledges were welcomed by UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon, who pointed out that the Commonwealth climate talks were the last political platform for such a discussion before the Paris summit.
“Malta was the first country in 1988 to put climate change on the agenda of the UN general assembly and I hope today [yesterday] will be the last time because we will have a solid agreement in Paris,” Mr Ban said.
Climate change was the first topic on the CHOGM agenda as leaders elected a new secretary general. Queen Elizabeth II officially opened the three-day meeting in a ceremony held at the Mediterranean Conference Centre in Valletta. Formal speeches were interrupted by dance and music routines.
The Queen said Malta was a reminder that a nation’s size was no measure of the moral strength of its people. Prime Minister Joseph Muscat said the Commonwealth had to be more relevant to its citizens and closer to their aspirations.
“Countries should speak honestly to one another as silence does not help anyone. The Commonwealth’s most glorious days were when it did speak out,” he said.
An informal session of the meeting, better known as the retreat, will be held at Fort St Angelo in Vittoriosa today.
Leaders are also expected to approve the creation of a Commonwealth unit targeting extremism under plans announced yesterday by UK Prime Minister David Cameron.