Expatica news

Chile says Spain offers to host COP climate summit

Chile’s President Sebastian Pinera said Thursday Spain has offered to host the COP 25 climate summit in December after he abandoned plans to hold it in Santiago over deadly anti-government protests.

“Yesterday I spoke to Spanish President Pedro Sanchez, who made a generous offer to host the COP 25 summit in Madrid” on the original scheduled dates of December 2-13, Pinera said in an address.

He said he had informed the United Nations with a view to rescuing the summit “in order to bring to fruition all the progress that has been made and go ahead with this COP 25 which would be held in Madrid.”

Pinera on Wednesday pulled out of hosting the COP25 and another major international summit, the APEC gathering of Asia-Pacific leaders scheduled for November 16-17.

He said the decision was “painful” but necessary to concentrate on restoring order after nearly two weeks of civil unrest in Chile that have left 23 people dead.

Some 25,000 delegates were expected for COP 25, including teenage Swedish activist Greta Thunberg.