MEXICO PARTICIPATES IN THE PETERSBERG CLIMATE DIALOGUE III

• The participants will seek consensus in the lead-up to COP18 to be held in Doha, Qatar.

• Mexico's contributions to the global agenda on climate change were recognized during the meeting.

 • Mexican Environment Secretary Juan Rafael Elvira Quesada urged those present to strengthen their mitigation and adaptation efforts based on the existing national and international resources.

Mexico is participating actively for the third time in the Petersberg Climate Dialogue. This ministerial-level dialogue is organized by Germany in Berlin in cooperation with the incoming Presidency of the UN Climate Change Conference (Qatar) in order to encourage an open and informal discussion of the various climate change topics under negotiation.

The first discussion was held jointly by Mexico and Germany in May 2010 as part of the negotiating process which ended with the adoption of the Cancun Agreements.

This time, 34 countries are taking place in the Petersberg Climate Dialogue. The Mexican delegation is headed by Environment Secretary Juan Rafael Elvira Quesada and includes Ambassador Juan Manuel Gómez Robledo, the Foreign Ministry’s Undersecretary for Multilateral Affairs and Human Rights, and Dr. Francisco Barnés Castro, President of the National Ecology Institute.

The Mexican delegation urged those present to strengthen their joint actions to prevent an increase in the global temperature of more than two degrees Celsius and called on all States to conclude a new legally-binding agreement as soon as possible that would enter into force in 2020.

In her remarks to the participants, German Chancellor Angela Merkel said it was important for the countries to work to produce tangible results in mitigating and adapting to climate change, both as a part of the multilateral negotiation and through national initiatives. She pointed to Mexico as an example, saying it was a pioneer in the adoption and implementation of national legislation on climate change.

She also referred in her remarks to Mexico’s effective leadership in negotiating agreements on climate financing within the G20 and repeated Germany's commitment to continue working on the issue in a transparent manner.

With respect to the financial crisis in Europe, the German Chancellor said that the solution lies in implementing comprehensive policies that allow countries to move to low-carbon economies and green growth. She again mentioned Mexico as a good example and its experience in handling the crisis of the 1990s and its efforts today to become a truly green economy that ensures development while protecting the environment at the same time.

Finally, Merkel urged both developed and developing countries to be more ambitious and to firmly commit to negotiating a new legally-binding instrument that gives continuity to the Kyoto Protocol, based on the Cancun Agreements adopted in 2010 under the Mexican presidency and the 2011 Durban Agreement reached under the South African presidency of the Climate Change Conferences.