SUVA, July 3 (Xinhua) -- Fijian Prime Minister Voreqe Bainimarama said on Monday that while the United States had abandoned its leadership on climate change, the door remained open to U.S. President Donald Trump, given the commitment by other Americans to climate action.
Bainimarama, who is also president of the 23rd session of the Conference of the Parties (COP23) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), made the remarks when he opened the Climate Action Pacific Partnership meeting.
With the head of states from the Federated States of Micronesia and Tuvalu, as well as nearly 300 delegates from across the Pacific, Bainimarama made a clear statement for a re-dedication to the endeavor.
Bainimarama told the delegates that Fiji was with them and would do everything possible to stand up for them in the great forums of the world to fight climate change.
He said while there would be refugees of climate change, the people of Kiribati and Tuvalu need not worry, because Fiji would take them in.
In the lead-up to the COP23 meeting and having a collective Pacific agenda, Bainimarama has formally endorsed the "Under2 Coalition" with the appointment of Jerry Brown, the governor of U.S. state of California, as a Special COP23 Envoy to the States and Regions.
He said the important initiative mobilized nearly 180 sub-national governments around the world to do their part to tackle climate change.
