Turkish president to raise climate change issue at India, New York meetings

ANKARA

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan will raise climate change issues separately at the upcoming G-20 summit in India and the UN General Assembly in New York.

Erdogan will visit India's capital, New Delhi, for the G-20 Leaders' Summit, which will be held on Sept. 9-10, and one of the important agenda items he will discuss with the leaders at the summit will be climate change.

At the summit under the theme “One World, One Family, One Future,” Erdogan will share the steps Türkiye has taken combat climate change during bilateral meetings with the leaders.

After the summit, Erdogan will visit New York to attend the 78th session of the UN General Assembly, where he will bring up the issue of climate change during his speech at the assembly, and in bilateral meetings with the leaders.

Türkiye is among the countries making the most significant contribution to the Paris Climate Agreement with its 2053 net zero emissions and green development targets.

Ankara works for a cleaner and greener Türkiye by implementing many projects, including a zero-waste initiative.

In 2017, under the auspices of first lady Emine Erdogan, Türkiye launched the zero-waste project to highlight the importance of eliminating waste in fighting the climate crisis.

The project has drawn international praise, with UN chief Antonio Guterres expressing his gratitude to the first lady during a conference in New York last September.

Last December, the UN General Assembly unanimously adopted a resolution on the zero waste initiative presented by Türkiye, declaring March 30 as the International Day of Zero Waste.

"We will continue to work on this vital issue that concerns the common future of our world and humanity, both by fulfilling our own obligations and by taking initiative at the global level.

"We will share these issues with our interlocutors at the G-20 Summit and the UN General Assembly, which we will attend next month, and we will do our duty towards our own citizens and all humanity," President Erdogan said after the Cabinet meeting on Monday.