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Mexico seeks RI advice on climate change summit
Foreign Minister Marty Natalegawa received his Mexican counterpart Patricia Espinosa on Thursday in Jakarta in a meeting that highlighted the climate change agenda ahead of the UN conference in Cancun in November
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oreign Minister Marty Natalegawa received his Mexican counterpart Patricia Espinosa on Thursday in Jakarta in a meeting that highlighted the climate change agenda ahead of the UN conference in Cancun in November.
Mexico will host the 16th Conference of Parties (COP) of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) to negotiate a mechanism to fight global warming and emission reductions after the previous meeting in Copenhagen last year failed to produce a binding commitment.
“The visit by Espinosa is a follow up on bilateral cooperation between Indonesia and Mexico in the areas of trade, investment and energy after the visit by President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono to Mexico in 2008,” Marty said in a press conference after meeting Espinosa.
“Apart from the bilateral agenda, we also shared our views on climate change issues because Espinosa’s visit is mainly related to Mexico’s forthcoming role as COP 16 chair in Cancun,” he said.
Espinosa said Mexico had acknowledged the leading role Indonesia played in the area of climate change. Indonesia hosted the 13th COP in Bali in 2007, which resulted in the Bali Road Map that laid out the foundation for climate change negotiations.
Experts have expressed fear that the meeting might reach another stalemate as developed nations remain reluctant to pledge to binding commitments after the Kyoto Protocol expires in 2012.
“I want to hear from our colleagues about their experiences, national efforts and their capacity as former chair of conference on climate change in Bali 2007. We are still working on the basis of the Bali plan that shows the importance of widening agreements taken at that conference. So we have asked our friends to support our role as the chair in the coming conference,” Espinosa said.
Marty said Mexico and Indonesia shared similarities not only in the negotiation process but also in terms of the substance.
“We project the same kind of interest. We are both countries interested in finding a common solution, countries that wants to bridge the divides in the negotiating process.”
Indonesia has made a commitment to reduce its carbon emissions by between 26 and 41 percent by 2020.
On bilateral cooperation, Espinosa said Mexico and Indonesia would strengthen their cooperation on the economy, education and people-to-people exchanges.
“There is enormous room for strengthening cooperation because both Mexico and Indonesia are big countries. Mexico expects to see economic growth of around 5 percent or even higher this year. This will draw more investors to Mexico,” Espinosa said.
Indonesia set up the Indonesia Trade Promotion Center in Mexico City in 2009 to increase trade although the economic crisis has resulted in a decline in bilateral trade volume last year. However, in the first quarter of this year, bilateral trade picked up with an increase of 14.69 percent compared to the same period last year.
On investment, both countries have been negotiating a draft agreement on the increase and protection on capital investment, which is expected to be concluded this year.
