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President Recep Tayyip Erdogan received Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese in Antalya, where Erdogan is attending the COP31 UN climate conference, with talks covering bilateral relations and regional and global issues.
According to a statement from Türkiye’s Communications Directorate, Erdogan told Albanese that trade between the two countries has more potential than current levels reflect. He said it was important to explore cooperation opportunities in a range of sectors.
Erdogan also stressed that Türkiye and Australia share responsibility at COP31 and thanked Albanese for his contributions to the summit.
Türkiye is hosting the 31st Conference of the Parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, while Australia holds the presidency of the negotiations.
The conference is the UN’s annual climate gathering, where governments negotiate on cutting emissions, adapting to climate impacts and financing both.
Australia’s Climate Change and Energy Minister Chris Bowen addressed world leaders at the summit on Wednesday. He called on countries to act with “urgency, solidarity and resolve.”
“To every party, we must be ready to work, listen and compromise,” Bowen said. “We are here together to fight this urgent common threat, climate change, with collective resolve and purpose.”
Bowen warned that every fraction of a degree of warming matters for people’s lives, communities and economic stability.
He cited projections that the world will overshoot the 1.5 degrees Celsius (2.7 Fahrenheit) warming threshold, the more ambitious temperature goal of the 2015 Paris Agreement.
“In a time of rupture, Australia regards the COP as more important than ever,” he said, reaffirming Canberra’s commitment to international cooperation and the Paris accord.
He added that Australia’s partnership with Türkiye links the Mediterranean and the Pacific, and that the two countries’ role as custodians of the global climate process extends worldwide.
Bowen urged more diverse energy sources and less dependence on fragile supply chains to improve energy security. He listed three COP31 priorities: accelerating global electrification, strengthening climate adaptation and resilience, and making climate finance faster, simpler and fairer.
He said that he and Turkish Climate Change Minister Murat Kurum had agreed, after consulting participating countries, to advance a presidency-led decision under a “party-driven, presidency-led” approach.
“It will bring forward practical solutions and send a clear message: we are accelerating and not stepping back,” Bowen said.
Describing what success would look like, he said it “means progress across a full negotiating agenda.” He urged governments to show they are not wavering in their commitment to tackling climate change.
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