París, 2 de diciembre de  2015

Today, in a bilateral meeting between Ecuador´s Environment Minister Dr Daniel Ortega Pacheco and and China´s chief negotiator and Vice Chair of the National Comission of Development and Reform, Xie Zhenhua, China assured the Latin American country that it would not agree a deal in Paris unless it was legally binding and guaranteed financial resources for developing countries to be able to take real climate action.
Ecuador has been prominent in calling for a binding agreement in Paris that delivers fair access to funding and technology to developing countries from richer industrialised countries to allow them to cut carbon emissions and adapt to the impacts of a warming climate.
The two countries agreed to continue to work together strategically throughout the negotiations.
Mr Zhenhua also outlined Chinese plans to support ten technology parks across the world to help combat climate change. They spoke of Ecuador`s Yachay “city of knowledge” which is being developed to be a regional hub of science and technology as part of a strategic plan to diversify Ecuador´s economy away from it´s historic dependency on oil and extractive industries.
Ecuadorian Minister Dr Daniel Ortega Pacheco said:
“The talks here in Paris will only be successful in keeping temperatures at safe levels if the the deal can be implemented afterwards. For this reason it is important that China and Ecuador are working together for a treaty that that is legally binding and provides reliable finance and technology for developing countries.
Global warming is a real threat for Ecuador – our glaciers are aleady melting, our agriculture is already affected. At home we are investing millions on cleaning up our electricity system so it will be over 90 percent fossil free by 2017. We are investing to reduce gas use and protect our rainforests. We want to do more, but we need reliable access to finance and technology from the industrialised countries most responsible for this climate crisis.”
ENDS
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Notes to editor:
President Rafael Correa of Ecuador spoke in the inauguration of the COP21 and called for an international court of environmental rights. Ecuador was the first country to introduce rights for nature in their constitution. His speech is here https://youtu.be/YIDl8DuVHtE
Dr Daniel Ortega Pacheco, Ecuador´s Environment minister has had bilateral meetings with Colombia, South Korea and China at the COP21 and will return to Paris to lead the negotiations for Ecuador during the final days of the talks