Niue is not sending a delegation to the UN Summit on Climate Change which will take place next week on September 23rd in New York.
Cabinet Minister Dalton Tagelagi told BCN News that while they support the regional position and the members from the Pacific attending the summit, the Government has decided to focus on another big meeting Niue will be hosting next week. That is the Pacific Medical Association’s Conference.
According to the Minister the fact that Niue does not have a seat at the UN or voting rights makes it even harder to justify sending a delegation to just sit and observe. Niue, the Cook Islands and other Pacific countries territories of the US and France are not full members of the United Nations which means they don’t have voting rights as the other 193 full members of the UN.
The Minister said that the Niue government position has consistently been to support the regional position calling on urgent global action on Climate Change. He says that the regional champions on Climate Change such as the leaders of Tuvalu and Kiribati and Fiji have the support of the Niue Government and reaffirm the commitments made by the leaders at the last Forum Leaders meeting held in Tuvalu in August.