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Environment Ministry Organising 22nd Basic Ministerial Meeting on Climate Change

The Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change is organising the 22nd meeting of Brazil, South Africa, India and China, called the BASIC Group. The meeting is being organized in New Delhi on 6th and 7th April 2016. This is the first meeting of the BASIC Group, after the Paris Agreement was adopted in December 2015. The meeting is extremely relevant, as it will help to further consolidate the positions of the countries and secure the interests of developing countries, before the 196 UNFCCC member countries meet for the first time in May 2016 after the adoption of the Paris Agreement. It aims to discuss climate change related issues, including how to take forward the decisions adopted in the Paris Agreement. The Ministers will reflect and deliberate on various provisions of the Paris Agreement and related decisions including Intended Nationally Determined Contribution (INDC), transparency framework for action and support, matters relating to global stocktake, progress towards achieving the 20 C goal and the Pre 2020 Actions and review issues.

On the first day of the meeting, negotiators of all four countries will meet and prepare the groundwork for the Ministerial meeting. On April 7, the Ministerial meeting will be followed by a press conference. At the end of the two-day meeting, a Joint Statement will be issued by the Group of Ministers, highlighting the BASIC group position on the way forward for the implementation of the Paris Agreement and its decisions.

Minister of State (Independent Charge) of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, Mr. Prakash Javadekar, Special Representative for Climate Change Affairs of China, Mr. XieZhenhua, Deputy Minister of the Department of Environmental Affairs of South Africa, Ms. Thomson Barbara and Ambassador José Antonio Marcondes de Carvalho, Under Secretary-General for the Environment, Energy, Science and Technology of the Ministry of External Relations of Brazil will be attending the meeting, along with other officials of their country.

During the 21st meeting of the BASIC Group held in Beijing, China, in 2015, the Ministers had highlighted the importance of cooperation among developing countries. They had voiced their support for further strengthening common positions of developing countries in Paris through the Group of 77 and China.