SYDNEY (Reuters) -Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said on Sunday that he wrote to Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan to resolve a long-running tussle over who will host next year’s COP31 summit.
Australia and Turkey submitted bids in 2022 to host the United Nations climate conference and both countries have refused to concede to the other ever since.
Asked on Sunday if he thought Australia would end up as host, Albanese said: “There’s no real process for finalising the matter. I’ve written to President Erdogan of Türkiye, we’re continuing to engage.”
“It’s hard when there’s no consensus, when you’ve got two bids. Our bid, of course, is in partnership with the Pacific,” Albanese added, according to an official transcript of remarks on Sky News television.
A regional diplomatic bloc of 18 countries, the Pacific Islands Forum, is backing Australia’s bid. Several Pacific island nations are at risk from rising seas.
Albanese said Australia wanted to ensure Pacific island nations’ interests are protected.
“They’re particularly vulnerable to climate change. For them, countries like Tuvalu and Kiribati, this is an existential threat to their very existence, which is why this is such a strong issue in our region,” he said.
Turkey has previously argued its Mediterranean location would help reduce emissions from flights bringing delegates to the conference, and has pointed out its smaller oil and gas industry compared to Australia.
In July, the UN urged Australia and Turkey to resolve the hosting standoff, calling the delay unhelpful and unnecessary. It had set a deadline of June for the group to reach consensus.
The annual talks rotate through five regional groups, with COP31’s host needing to be unanimously agreed upon by the 28 members of the Western Europe and Others Group bloc.
(Reporting by Sam McKeith in SydneyEditing by Rod Nickel)
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