DOHA: Some 70,000 hotel rooms were booked to accommodate 16,000 delegates who attended the COP18 conference which concluded here yesterday, a senior official of the organising committee said yesterday.
Abdulaziz bin Ahmed Al Maliki, General Coordinator of the 18th session of the UN climate change conference (COP18/CMP8), said that the conference drew 16,000 participants from 194 countries, 6,600 observers from civil society and non-governmental organisations and more than 800 media representatives.
Al Malki congratulated Qatar on the adoption of the General Secretariat to COP’s decision on the second period of the Kyoto Protocol, making this conference a great success.
He also underlined the success of the sustainable development exhibition organised on the sidelines of the conference, adding that more than 10,500 people visited the expo over the two weeks.
He also noted the participants were impressed by the arrangements at the iconic Qatar National Convention Centre.
Chairman of the Sub-Committee Fahad bin Mohammed Al Attiyah said that the organisation of the conference was also a remarkable success in terms of logistics.
Qatar, he said, has proved to the world that it can deliver and can bring about great results.
“Today’s achievement in the adoption of the second commitment period of the Kyoto Protocol is good example,” he said. “The Protocol will continue over the next eight years and a journey of action and implementation in this context will begin,” he said.
He hoped that the coming period would witness great changes by the year 2015 due to the global agreement that will come into force in 2020. The Peninsula
