Qatar hosts Climate Talks

(Doha) – The 18th United Nations climate change conference also known as COP18, has opened in Qatari Capital Doha. Over the next two weeks, up to 17,000 people will attend the conference during which the delegates will be negotiating a new global deal on climate.
The meeting elected the former Qatari Energy Minister, Abdullah bin Hamad al-Attiyah, as president of the Conference of the Parties. In his opening remarks he said the meeting is critical and a golden opportunity to make progress on a new global climate deal adding that, “This is an historic conference and is of vital importance considering the items on its agenda. It is a turning point in the negotiations on climate change.”
Maite Nkoana-Mashabane, South African foreign minister, officially handed over the COP presidency to Attiyah, Qatar’s deputy prime minister, at the Qatar National Convention Centre in Doha. This is the first time the COP is being held in the Gulf region.