G20: Spain advocates for strong multilateralism ahead of COP28

New Delhi: Spain's vice-president Nadia Calvino on Saturday underscored the paramount importance of multilateralism and global collaboration in addressing climate change during the G20 Leaders’ Summit on Saturday.

“There has been a very strong call for multilateralism and confidence in our joint ability to co-operate and to work together to face global challenges such as climate change during the discussion this morning," Calvino said on the sidelines of the G20 Leaders’ Summit after the first session on One Earth.

The summit's dialogue centred on similar themes, with the welcoming of the African Union into the G20 fold. Attendees unanimously committed to upholding environmental pledges made in Paris and other global summits. This collective commitment is anticipated to be instrumental at the impending COP28 meeting where pivotal climate decisions await discussion.

“In the precession, there was a joint agreement to fulfill the commitments taken at Paris and at the different international summits, and to continue to make progress to meet our targets in terms of climate action there was a joint commitment to contribute to the upcoming COP28 meeting and to deliver our environmental financial commitment and to ensure that we effectively meet the target,” Calvino said.

“I hope it will be there in the communique tomorrow in terms of the deployment of renewables throughout the world and to reach in 2025, the peak of CO2 emission and thus pursue the path towards decarbonisation of our economies,” the vice-president added.

As an avenue for global cooperation, the G20 remains pivotal. Besides its regular members, the summit welcomed invited nations, including Spain. Enhanced high-level interactions between India and Spain have been facilitated by G20, filling gaps in their bilateral interactions.

Although Spain’s President Pedro Sánchez could not attend due to a covid-19 diagnosis, Spain's representation was marked by the presence of first vice president and economic affairs minister Nadia Calviño and foreign affairs minister José Manuel Albares. The absence of Sánchez halted the sequence of bilateral meetings between him and India's PM Narendra Modi, which had been customary during previous G20 summits.