"For economies like Brazil and India, multilateralism is extremely important," President of COP 30 says

New Delhi [India], September 1 (ANI): The 2025 United Nations Climate Change Conference, or COP30, is to be held in Belem, Brazil, from November 10 to 21. Speaking about the upcominng summit, Andre Aranha Correa Do Lago, President of COP 30 said on Monday that multilateralism is extremely important for India and Brazil.
Lago, while talking to ANI, said that for developing countries like India and Brazil, multilateralism is the answer.
"I think that for most developing countries and even more for economies like Brazil and India, multilateralism is extremely important. So we need to make sure that COP 30 brings back this trust in multilateralism that we cannot believe that unilateral measures is the answer. We need to prepare the world with multilateral solutions and I think this is the very first thing we want to achieve," he said.
Lago said that the world must start looking at itself from the point of view of countries like India and Brazil.
"I think we had a very interesting sequence regarding G20, that Brazil followed India. And I think that the world has to start to look at itself from the point of view of countries like India and Brazil. And I think this is working very well, and we have to strengthen that. So it will be very good that India holds COP33," he said.
He added that India and Brazil have similar objectives and different circumstances. But, both are working towards development together.
"We have very similar objectives, although we have different circumstances. Brazil has a very large territory with a population that is much smaller than India. We are only 220 million. But there are many things that we are developing together. So biofuels, for instance, is something that we can work, and we are working together, and we are leaders technologically and also commercially because India and Brazil are the two largest producers of sugar and we can do biofuels from many other origins," he said.
He also added that India takes harnessing solar energy very seriously, and so does Brazil. Hence, it can be used for a greater agenda.
"But there is also solar that India took the lead very clearly and Brazil also is following very strongly. We already have almost 15% of our electricity now comes from solar. But Brazil and India have many other technologies that we are developing together and so I believe that this agenda is a positive agenda if we use it to change together and not wait for the consequences of climate change to start moving. We have to move early," he said.
Lago said that although the US government is reluctant in participating in the climate change negotiations, its companies still want to invest in them.
"It's more challenging for everybody that the government of the US has this reluctance to participate in the negotiation. But we have to remember that the US is not only the government. It's the companies, it's the different states. So if you just take the governors that want to continue to follow the Paris Accord independently of the central government, you have more than 60% of the American GDP that is following it. So I think that we have to put it in relative terms, but we definitely have to work all together," he said.
He further said that it is because of this reason that these countries believe in multilateralism.
"That's why we believe in multilateralism and we would obviously prefer that the US would be in this effort as a central government. So we will work with the US business, governments, etc. that want to follow this agenda," he said. (ANI)