4 October 2010
Tianjin Talks Open With Call to Seek Commonalities
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Opening the talks, UNFCCC Executive Secretary Christiana Figueres called on negotiators to "accelerate the search for common ground."

4 October 2010: The 14th session of the Ad Hoc Working Group on Further Commitments for Annex I Parties under the Kyoto Protocol (AWG-KP 14) and the 12th session of the Ad HocWorking Group on Long-term Cooperative Action under the Convention (AWG-LCA 12) opened on 4 October 2010, at the Tianjin Meijiang Convention and Exhibition Center, Tianjin, China.

Opening of the Conference, UNFCCC Executive Secretary Christiana Figueres underlined that the talks in Tianjin are the last negotiating session before the 16th session of the Conference of the Parties to the UNFCCC (COP 16), which will take place at the end of the year in Cancun, Mexico. She called on negotiators to “accelerate the search for common ground” and encouraged parties to articulate what could constitute an achievable and politically balanced set of decisions under the COP and the Conference of the Parties serving as the meeting of the Parties to the Kyoto Protocol (COP/MOP) in Cancun. Quoting a former Premier of China, she called on delegates to “seek commonalities while putting aside differences,” to reach a balanced outcome, which may not be exhaustive in its detail, but should be comprehensive in scope. The Tianjin talks will conclude on 9 October 2010. [IISD RS Coverage] [UNFCCC Executive Secretary’s Statement][UNFCCC Press Release]