(MENAFN- Brazil-Arab News Agency (ANBA)) São Paulo – Brazilian president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva said on Thursday (6), in his speech at the COP30 Leaders' Summit, that the climate agenda must be placed at the center of discussions, and that countries must overcome the differences that prevent them from tackling global warming. He also highlighted that, for the first time, a COP climate conference is being held in the Amazon rainforest. On Thursday and Friday (7), the climate summit will discuss the main topics of COP30, which begins on Monday (10) in Belém, Brazil's Pará state.

In his speech, Lula warned about the human and material consequences of global warming, such as the loss of lives and the reduction of gross domestic product. He also acknowledged that, after ten years in effect, the Paris Agreement has managed to avert the worst projections for climate change.

“For the first time in history, a Climate COP will take place in the heart of the Amazon. In the global imagination, there is no greater symbol of the environmental cause than the Amazon rainforest. Here flow the thousands of rivers and streams that make up the largest river basin on the planet. Here live the thousands of plant and animal species that form the most diverse biome on Earth. Here reside millions of people and hundreds of Indigenous peoples, whose lives are marked by the false dilemma between prosperity and preservation,” Lula said.

Lula also said that the solution to the climate challenge involves resolving the divergences among peoples, as the areas of convergence“are already known.” He said humanity has been aware of the impact of climate change for more than 35 years.“But it took 28 conferences for the need to move away from fossil fuels and to stop and reverse deforestation to be recognized for the first time, in Dubai. It took an additional year for the prospect of increasing climate financing to USD 1.3 trillion to be acknowledged in Baku. Belém will honor the legacies of COPs 28 and 29,” he said.

The COP30 Leaders' Summit is being attended by 57 heads of state or government from 140 countries. Lula's schedule includes bilateral meetings on Thursday with the British Prime Minister, Keir Starmer, and the French President, Emmanuel Macron. On Wednesday (5), he met with the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, and China's Vice Premier, Ding Xuexiang.

Meeting with the President of Comoros

Lula also met with the President of Comoros, Azali Assoumani, with whom he discussed matters related to the bilateral agenda between the two countries, as well as the climate agenda. According to information from the presidential office, Assoumani said his country will be directly affected by climate change, as Comoros is made up of islands.

Assoumani also expressed interest in obtaining cooperation to develop his country's agriculture and reduce reliance on imported food. Lula recalled that a mission from the Brazilian Agricultural Research Corporation (Embrapa) visited Comoros in 2024 and said he will deepen Embrapa's engagement with authorities from the island nation.

Read more:
Brazil hosts COP30 leaders' summit

Translated by Guilherme Miranda

Ricardo Stuckert/Brazil Presidency

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