Trump meeting ‘solid’
‘‘PERFECTLY productive, warm, solid bilateral’’ is how Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has described her meeting in New York with United States President Donald Trump.
She said the roughly 25minute meeting — labelled a ‘‘pullaside’’ rather than a bilateral by the White House — on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly in yesterday, was ‘‘excellent’’, and showed Mr Trump’s warmth of feeling towards New Zealand.
In a twitter posting later, Mr Trump said: ‘‘True. A wonderful meeting!’’
Ms Ardern said they had a wideranging discussion covering tourism, the March 15 Christchurch terror attacks, and trade.
Being in trade surplus with the US was ‘‘an acknowledgement’’ of the relationship that already existed, Ms Ardern said.
‘‘So the idea of continuing a conversation around New Zealand’s trade relationship with the United States was greeted warmly.
‘‘I expect there will be some ongoing conversations . . . These things do take time.’’
When asked about her personal rapport, Ms Ardern talked about Mr Trump’s attitude towards New Zealand.
‘‘The knowledge the president already has about New Zealand, the warmth and high regard in which he clearly holds New Zealanders and the place, was really clear. That’s a good starting point for any conversation.
How was the handshake? ‘‘Standard.’’
And Mr Trump’s ‘‘thumbs up’’ in their photo together and whether she would return the gesture? She said it was a not something she tended to do in photos.
While Ms Ardern acknowledged personal relationships were important in international diplomacy, relationships with countries such as the United States, Australia and the United Kingdom ‘‘endure beyond political leaders’’.
‘‘It’s part of it, but actually our history is much more longstanding and runs much, much deeper.’’
However, the March attacks and the gun buyback were discussed.
‘‘How it worked, I referenced the fact Australia had gone through a similar process and we really learnt from that so it was really just sharing our experience, which is pretty unique.’’
The fact the Government had achieved near political consensus had ‘‘sparked interest among others’’.
Ms Ardern said she would not want to ‘‘predetermine’’ whether that meant anything for the United States.
There had been some discussion about the lack of media access, and the meeting’s classification as a ‘‘pull aside’’ rather than a more formal bilateral.
‘‘We have different definitions of these things, usually based on length.
‘‘I think, in the end, we met for about 2025 minutes but that [pull aside] will be a reference to whether or not there were media in the room — that was a decision for the United States.’’
Mr Trump ‘‘absolutely’’ took New Zealand seriously, Ms Ardern said, noting he was only holding about six other bilaterals with world leaders during the UN General Assembly.
She ‘‘briefly’’ mentioned the climate summit in her meeting with Mr Trump, but said it was ‘‘not a long discussion’’.
She earlier had a ‘‘very, very good’’ meeting with British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, ‘‘reinforcing’’ the conversation Ms Ardern had with him previously to progress a trade deal with New Zealand once the United Kingdom has left the European Union.
Earlier, Ms Ardern thanked new participants who had joined the Christchurch Call.
It was announced yesterday 31 more countries had joined the call — a global effort to tackle online extremism in the wake of the Christchurch mosque shootings.
That takes the total number of member countries to 48. — RNZ
CLOSE to 30 global initiatives to ramp up action on climate change were unveiled or expanded at the UN Climate Action Summit in New York, the United Nations said yesterday.
Bringing together governments, businesses, development banks, cities and green groups, they cover everything from zerocarbon buildings to cleaning up air pollution and a platform for poor countries to access international finance for clean energy.
Here are 12, announced alongside commitments by about 65 countries to upgrade their climate plans, with the aim of upping the world’s chance of reducing planetwarming emissions to net zero by midcentury and meeting agreed temperature limits. —
1 Almost 90 companies with a market capitalisation of more than $US2.3 trillion and annual direct emissions equivalent to 73 coalfired power plants pledged to take action to align their business plans with scientific targets laying out what is needed to keep global warming to 1.5degC.
2 The Powering Past Coal Alliance said it had added seven new members, to include 32 nations, 25 states or regions, and 34 companies committed to phasing out coal power generation and ending the building of new coal power plants by 2020.
3 The Net Zero Asset Owner Alliance, a group of the world’s largest pension funds and insurers — which together manage $US2.3 trillion in investments — agreed to make their investment portfolios carbonneutral by 2050.
4 The International Development Finance Club, a leading group of 24 national and regional development banks, set a goal of raising $US1 trillion by 2025 for climate action in poorer countries, with an increasing share of that going to work to help them adapt to climate threats and build greater resilience.
5 The City Climate Finance Gap Fund backed
by the Global Covenant of Mayors for Climate and Energy, together with Germany and Luxembourg, said it would provide up to ¤50 million in grants to develop lowcarbon, climatesafe infrastructure projects in cities. It hopes to be able to double the grants to unlock at least ¤4 billion in investment, and will work with at least a dozen cities per year.
6 The Zero Carbon Buildings for All Initiative
pledged to ensure new buildings produce no more climatechanging emissions than they can absorb by 2030, with existing buildings meeting that goal by 2050 in member countries around the world, which include Kenya, Turkey, the United Arab Emirates and Britain. 7 A new Climate Investment Platform will enable developing countries to access finance for clean energy investment more easily. Support for other areas of climate action, such as adaptation, land use, cities and infrastructure, would be added in 2020, its backers said.
8 The ‘‘Three Percent Club’’, a coalition of 15 countries, as well as businesses and institutions, said it would work to drive a 3% annual global increase in energy efficiency, up from 1.3% in 2018, by including measures in national plans and sharing expertise.
9 The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the World Bank, the European Commission, Britain, the Netherlands, Switzerland, Sweden and Germany promised to invest more than $US650 million in the CGIAR group of agricultural research centres over the next three years to help 300 million smallholder farmers in developing countries adapt to climate pressures. The funding is part of a broader commitment of more than $US790 million to address the impact of climate change on food and agriculture.
10 The Coalition for Climate Resilient Investment — a group of 34 companies and organisations managing assets worth $US5 trillion — said it aimed to ensure finance for infrastructure would take into account climate risks, leading to more robust roads, bridges, energy, telecoms and other key services.
11 The Clean Air Initiative will urge governments at national and local level to commit to achieving air that is safe and healthy, and to align their climate change and air pollution policies by 2030. A Clean Air Fund — with $US50 million in initial funding — also was launched to tackle outdoor air pollution and reduce related deaths. The fund aims to raise a total of $US100 million.
12 The World Bank and Germany launched PROGREEN, a global partnership — involving agriculture, mining and other sectors, as well as governments — to boost efforts to curb deforestation and forest fires, restore degraded land and improve incomes in poor, rural communities. It will start with funding of ¤200 million from Germany and aims to ultimately raise about $US1 billion.
Sources: United Nations Climate Summit: www.un.org/climatechange, German government, Sustainable Energy for All, Powering Past Coal Alliance, Campaign for Nature, International Energy Agency, World Resources Institute, Willis Towers Watson, World Bank, CGIAR.