DHAKA, Feb 20, 2021 (BSS) – The United States (US) has officially becomes a Party to the Paris Agreement again on Friday following an instrument, signed by US president Biden on his first day in office on January 20 to bring the US back into the accord.
“Now, as momentous as our joining the Agreement was in 2016 – and as momentous as our rejoining is today – what we do in the coming weeks, months, and years is even more important,” US secretary of state Antony J. Blinken said in a statement on the occasion, according to a release disseminated by the Us embassy here today.
In his statement, the secretary of state said the US will continue weaving climate change into its most important bilateral and multilateral conversations at all levels and ask other leaders how all can do more together over the issue.
Noting that the Paris Agreement is an unprecedented framework for global action, Blinken said, “We know because we helped design it and make it a reality.”
He said the agreement’s purpose is both simple and expansive, “to help us all avoid catastrophic planetary warming and to build resilience around the world to the impacts from climate change we already see”.
Assuring that climate change and science diplomacy can never again be “add-ons” in the US foreign policy discussions, he said addressing the real threats from climate change and listening to the scientists is at the center of the US domestic and foreign policy priorities.
“It is vital in our discussions of national security, migration, international health efforts, and in our economic diplomacy and trade talks,” he said.
The secretary of state said the US is reengaging the world on all fronts, including at the President’s April 22nd Leaders’ Climate Summit and looking forward to working with the United Kingdom and other nations.