UN Secretary-General António Guterres met with Chinese Premier Li Qiang in Jakarta where they discussed “regional peace and security issues” and the need for “urgent climate action,” official sources said Thursday-Friday.
The meeting, which took place in the Indonesian capital on the sidelines of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) summit, also discussed the need for “institutional reform,” Guterres’s office said in a statement.
“The Secretary-General thanked Premier Li for China’s continued contribution to the United Nations (UN) and its activities. The Secretary General and Prime Minister discussed regional peace and security issues. They also discussed the need for urgent climate action and institutional reform, including within the scope of the international financial architecture.”says the note.
Guterres took advantage of the meeting to express his “availability to strengthen cooperation with China in all pillars of the United Nations’ activities.”
Li Qiang’s meeting with Guterres comes just days before China’s Prime Minister represents Beijing at the G20 summit, in the absence of Chinese President Xi Jinping.
The Chinese authorities have not explained why Xi will not participate in the summit on September 9-10 in India, limiting themselves to confirming that Prime Minister Li Qiang will join the leaders of the G20, of which the countries are about 85% of the global economy and greenhouse gas emissions.
Guterres will also be present at the G20 summit, where he will ask the world’s major economies to accelerate reductions in polluting emissions and support countries suffering the effects of decades of global warming caused by fossil fuels.
Source: DN
