2023-07-09 02:54:00
The European Union (EU) I would be open to looking at and discussing the proposal of Colombian President Gustavo Petro to restructure the global financial system to adopt the exchange of foreign debt for climate action.
“I have told the president that the EU is not once morest this idea. We need to work on the technical foundations and start the discussions.”He said comisario europeo de Medioambiente, Virginijus Sinkevicius, in statements to the press following meeting with Petro at the preparatory meeting for the Amazon Summit, held in Leticia, in the far south of the country.
This meeting is in preparation for the summit of Amazonian countries that will take place on August 8 and 9 in the Brazilian city of Belén, capital of the state of Pará.
In statements to EFE, the commissioner, who has been the main representative from outside the Amazon arc at the summit, explained that for now the EU needs “see the proposal” y “the technical document in order to start the discussions”.
Petro has proposed in various international forums a debt swap for climate action and payment for environmental services, which would allow it to finance environmental protection efforts and projects in the Amazon for the protection of the jungle and local communities.
“At the moment it is an exchange of ideas and we can start thereí”, affirmed the European commissioner, who explained that they also seek to include countries outside the EU to implement the Green Pact, and that there is “will to do it”.
“I think it is an idea that we can export (…) Colombia is very willing to do so and I can only insist that we are going to see the technical document and start the discussion,” said Sinkevicius.
At this summit, which brought together indigenous and environmental organizations and the ministers of the eight countries of the Amazon arc and which was closed by Petro and the Brazilian president, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, the EU announced the Amazon+ program.
Through this programme, the EU will contribute 20 million euros to “strengthen the capacity of the countries of the Amazon Basin to mitigate CO2 emissions and adapt to the effects of climate change” in the next five years.
The funds will go to Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, Guyana, Peru, Suriname and Venezuelaand is part of the European initiative “Amazon Basin”, which has a total of 35 million euros to contribute to the preservation of the green lung of the planet.
EFE
1688900163
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