Sawt Falasteen - Australia defends Pacific climate meeting despite doubts on attendance

Speaking on the sidelines of the Pacific Island Forum in Koror, Palau, Albanese denied he had been unrealistic in expecting world leaders to fly in for the gathering, one month before the major UN-sponsored climate summit, known as COP31, in Turkey.

"We always anticipated when it comes to pre-COP events, there normally aren't lots of leaders at it," Albanese said.

"There isn't one leader here who has criticised Australia for our support for bringing the pre-COP to the Pacific. In fact, it is the opposite."

The October 5-8 pre-COP talks in Fiji, which are to include a leaders' retreat in low-lying Tuvalu, will provide a focus on the impact of global warming in the Pacific region, Albanese said.

"It will elevate the issue," he said.

Turkey and Australia agreed last year that the Pacific would host pre-COP preparatory meetings as part of a compromise to resolve their battle over where the 2026 climate summit should be held.

Under the deal, Turkey will host the COP31 climate talks from November 9 in the Mediterranean resort of Antalya, while Australia will chair the negotiations.

Australia has described the Fiji and Tuvalu climate meeting as an "unprecedented opportunity to bring the world to the Pacific" and urged global leaders to attend.

But speaking on Tuesday, Fijian Foreign Minister Sakiasi Ditoka revealed that only a handful of countries -- including Antigua and Barbuda, Cape Verde, Thailand, Maldives and East Timor -- had so far confirmed their attendance.

Albanese confirmed he would be attending.

Australia's climate minister and president of the COP31 negotiations, Chris Bowen, said the guest list was "not yet finalised".

"There are people who are saying they'd like to come, but they're finding it difficult. There's others who say they are likely to come, but can't, yes, completely confirm," he told journalists.

"When you get to Fiji, you'll see who's there," he said.

Preparatory meetings for COP climate summits were not normally held at the leader level, Bowen said.

"We are having a small leader-level component to help lift the focus, particularly small islands, developing states, and atolls," the minister said.

Australia wanted to take people to Tuvalu "to show the impacts of climate change", he added.

Tuvalu has welcomed the list of attendees, with its minister for climate change, Maina Talia, saying it "exceeded what we expected".

Tuvalu, a string of isles lying roughly halfway between Hawaii and Australia, is one of the South Pacific nations most immediately threatened by climate change.

Australia is a major producer of fossil fuels and is one of the world's largest exporters of coal.

S.Barghouti--SF-PST