Climate change conference to be held in Africa for the first time

The next round of high-level talks on global warming will take place in Africa for the first time later this year, the Secretariat of the Framework Convention on Climate Change announced today.

The Government of Morocco and the Secretariat today signed a host country agreement for the seventh session of the Conference of the Parties to the Convention, which will take place in Marrakech from 29 October to 9 November.

At the meeting, the political deal concluded in Bonn in July will be converted into a package of detailed decisions, the Secretariat said. Such decisions will enable ratification of the Convention's Kyoto Protocol by Governments whose adhesion is necessary to bring it into force, also guiding future action under the Convention itself.

"We must make further progress towards an effective international strategy to combat climate change," said Mohamed Elyazghi, Morocco's Minister of Spatial Planning, Urban Managing, Housing and Environment, who signed the agreement for the host country. "By hosting this conference, Morocco would like to demonstrate to the international community the political commitment that Africa as a whole has to this common objective," he said.