embassy events 2008

Senior Officials Arriving at COP14 Climate Change Conference in Poznan

10 December 2008

Congressman Jim Sensenbrenner interviewed by TVP Outside Conference Hall on December 9 (more photos)

Undersecretary for Democracy and Global Affairs Paula Dobriansky joined the US delegation already in Poznan for two weeks of UN climate change talks, announced Press Attaché James Wolfe. As head of the US team, Ms. Dobriansky will be participating in the ministerial portion during the last two days of the Fourteenth Session of the Conference of the Parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, or COP 14.  More than forty Congressional staff are also in Poznan this week attending meetings at COP 14. Congressman Jim Sensenbrenner of Wisconsin has also been participating in the climate change conference.  He gave an interview yesterday to TVP in which he stressed the importance of a climate agreement that does not slow down the American economy.  US Ambassador to Poland Victor Ashe will also be in Poznan for the last few days of the climate conference. A Senate delegation led by Senator John Kerry and Senator Amy Klobuchar will also be in Poznan.

The COP14 entered its second week with some positive reports about progress made toward preparing the way for a successor to the Kyoto Protocol to be agreed next December in Copenhagen. Dr. Harlan Watson, Ambassador and Special Envoy to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, and Daniel Reifsnyder, Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Environment and Sustainable Development, led the U.S. delegation prior to the arrival of Undersecretary Dobriansky, who will be joined Thursday by Jim Connaughton, Chairman of the White House Council on Environmental Quality. Ambassador Watson and DAS Reifsnyder held a press conference for international media at 13:30 on December 8 to update on progress. Their previous press conference was on December 1. For more information on the COP14 conference please visit the Department of State website and the United Nations websites.