Ethiopia has identified rebuilding confidence in multilateral climate cooperation as a central priority as it prepares to assume the COP32 presidency, Foreign Minister and COP32 President-Designate Gedion Timothewos (PhD) declared.
Addressing the COP31 Plenary in Antalya, Türkiye, he underscored the urgency of collective action amid intensifying climate impacts, geopolitical tensions, economic uncertainty and growing constraints on international cooperation. Competition over technology, investment and trade is increasingly undermining climate efforts, he observed, even as countries are expected to raise ambitions on emissions reductions and resilience-building under difficult financing conditions.
Citing scientific assessments by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), Gedion stressed the need to limit global temperature overshoot, close adaptation gaps and respond to irreversible loss and damage. Progress on mitigation and adaptation will remain constrained unless the financing gap is also addressed, he emphasized, highlighting the centrality of adequate climate finance to implementing global commitments.
The Foreign Minister expressed Ethiopia’s solidarity with countries facing the adverse effects of climate change and reaffirmed the country’s readiness to support the COP31 presidency in delivering a successful conference. He congratulated the Government and people of Türkiye for hosting the event, commended Türkiye and Australia for their leadership of the COP31 presidency and negotiations, and acknowledged Brazil’s COP30 presidency for the outcomes achieved in Belém.
COP31 must deliver progress across the interconnected agendas of mitigation, adaptation, finance, just transitions and means of implementation, he said. The Antalya conference marks the start of an important process toward the second Global Stocktake (GST2), requiring a collective assessment of implementation gaps, the reasons for uneven progress and the obstacles that international cooperation must help overcome.
As the incoming COP32 Presidency, Ethiopia is committed to serving all Parties and facilitating a fair, transparent and inclusive process, drawing on Africa’s experience to address shared challenges and advance collective solutions. The priority is to restore confidence in the multilateral climate process through tangible delivery, inclusive engagement, constructive handling of differences and outcomes that link global ambition with national implementation.
Climate cooperation should become a source of greater global cohesion, Gedion concluded, reaffirming the importance of collective determination and coordinated action in confronting the climate crisis.
