COP26 president commends Turkish 1st lady's 'green efforts'

ANKARA

The COP26 Alok Sharma on Wednesday met with Turkish first lady Emine Erdogan and commended her efforts in the fight against climate change.

The meeting between Sharma, who is also the UK Cabinet Office minister, and Erdogan took place at the Presidential Complex in the capital Ankara.

Appreciating Türkiye for ratifying the Paris Agreement, he noted that they follow green projects like Zero Waste which was initiated by the first lady in 2017 to contain waste in the country under sustainable development principles.

Saying that he also visited Europe's biggest solar power plant in the Karapinar district of the central Konya province, Sharma noted that they fully support Türkiye's works on renewable energy.

He also invited Erdogan to support the Global Ocean Alliance which was established as part of the COP26 meeting last year.

Global Ocean Alliance 30by30 is a UK-led initiative that aims to protect at least 30% of the global ocean as Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) and Other Effective area-based Conservation Measures (OECMs) by 2030.

For her part, Erdogan stressed the importance of global cooperation to solve environmental problems.

Erdogan also informed Sharma about the country's "green projects", including Zero Waste and the protection of Lake Salda.

The first lady also said that she would be pleased to extend support to the Global Ocean Alliance.