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Beijing — The UN Summit on Biodiversity will be held in Canada instead of China, the organizers announced on Tuesday. This is the second major international event to be transferred from China due to strict anti-coronavirus policies.
The UN Secretariat of the Convention on Biological Diversity and the Ministry of the Environment of China said in another statement that the meeting will be held in December in Montreal, the home of the Secretariat.
In a statement, the conference’s secretary-general, Elizabeth Marma Murema, said China, which chairs the meeting, “because of the ongoing uncertainties associated with the ongoing pandemic.” Decided to move overseas.
The Ministry of the Environment of China said it made the decision “after comprehensively considering the pandemic situation at home and abroad.”
China withdrew last month as the host of the 2023 Asian Cup for football. In addition, the 2022 Asian Games, a sports competition scheduled for September in Hangzhou, has been postponed indefinitely.
The Chinese government is sticking to a strict “zero corona” policy of limiting foreign visitors and repeatedly blocking some or all of the city to eradicate outbreaks. This approach is increasingly in conflict with other major countries that are moving towards relaxing restrictions and living with illness.
The Biodiversity Summit is similar to the more famous United Nations Climate Summit. Countries participating in the Global Agreement on the Conservation of the World’s Fauna and Flora meet regularly to achieve the goals set out in the Agreement.
The meeting was scheduled to be held in Kunming, China earlier this year, but was postponed due to a pandemic.
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