Speech by President of Cuba at Climate Action Summit

 

HAVANA, Cuba, Dec 1 (ACN) Miguel Diaz-Canel Bermudez, First Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Cuba and President of the Republic, spoke today at the World Summit on Climate Action in the context of the United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP-28) taking place in Expo City,
venue of the mega event that brings together in the city of Dubai, United Arab Emirates (UAE), more than 70 thousand participants from around the world.

Due to its importance, we publish below the speech published on the website of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Cuba.

Madam President, Excellencies:

I thank the Emirati government and people for the warm welcome, hospitality and organization of this summit.

Allow me to begin by recalling that, a little more than 2,000 kilometers from here, in Gaza, genocide is taking place. On behalf of Cuba, we categorically condemn the escalation of violence and terror unleashed against the inhabitants of that strip of land in occupied Palestine; peace is necessary to save the planet.
This COP must be a space for serious and ambitious commitments. We welcome the decision taken to operationalize the Loss and Damage Fund. We welcome the commitments announced to start capitalizing it, but we warn that they are still insufficient for the needs of developing countries. Science has repeatedly warned us of the catastrophic consequences of rising global temperatures. Ignoring it would be the most costly mistake of the human species.

Reversing this situation is clearly everyone's task, but only the developed nations are in a position to achieve the most ambitious emission reductions and to support the actions of the South with means of implementation.

On the road travelled since the Paris Conference, developing countries have promoted numerous climate actions, but there has been a lack of solidarity and the commitments of developed countries have not materialized in accordance with their historical capacities and responsibilities.

The most developed countries continue stimulating their extraction of fossil fuels. They are even talking about a doubling of fossil fuel production and consumption by 2030. These realities seriously undermine the climate of trust that should prevail among nations. Humanity's right to exist must be the main motivation for our discussions.

COP 28, which will conclude the First Global Stocktaking on the Implementation of the Paris Agreement, is a unique opportunity to correct the course of collective efforts to address climate change. Count on the contribution of the Group of 77 and China, which our country is honored to chair.

Although Cuba contributes less than 0.1% of global emissions, we ratify our commitment to implement our Nationally Determined Contribution and to advance in an Energy Transition Strategy for a much more resilient and low-carbon development model.

We will do so, despite the restrictions imposed on us by the tightening U.S. government blockade.

Excellencies:

In 1992, at the Earth Summit, the historic leader of the Cuban Revolution, Commander-in-Chief, Fidel Castro, ended by warning, "Tomorrow will be too late to do what we should have done a long time ago." That tomorrow is already today and the clock is ticking.
Thank you very much.