18 Nov 2014

Hollande pledges support for Pacific on climate

10:53 am on 18 November 2014

High-level talks on the Pacific's climate change crisis have ended with the President of France pledging his commitment to put the issue on the world stage.

Francois Hollande attended the meeting alongside the French Foreign Minister and leaders of Pacific Island states at an event hosted by the Secretariat of the Pacific Community at its Noumea headquarters.

Mr Hollande says the world has never had such an important issue to deal with and France is proud to work alongside the Pacific community on the issue.

The president has affirmed his country's commitment to advance the Pacific climate change agenda and says he will put it at the forefront of forthcoming climate agreement negotiations in Lima next month, and in Paris in 2015.

The SPC event comes nearly a year before France hosts the 21st session of the Conference of the Parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change in Paris, where a new, universal climate agreement is due to be sealed.

Mr Hollande says if the poorest, most vulnerable countries cannot be supported in their transition to sustainable development, then there can be no binding agreement on climate change.