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147 world leaders to attend Paris climate summit

PARIS: A total 147 heads of state and government so far will attend a climate summit due to start in Paris next week, the French government said on Tuesday. The November 30-December 11 conference is tasked with signing the first-ever truly universal pact to curb global warming, and opens just

By our correspondents
November 25, 2015
PARIS: A total 147 heads of state and government so far will attend a climate summit due to start in Paris next week, the French government said on Tuesday.
The November 30-December 11 conference is tasked with signing the first-ever truly universal pact to curb global warming, and opens just two weeks after Jihadists killed 130 people in the French capital.
France has said there had been no cancellations, and US President Barack Obama has urged fellow world leaders to come to Paris "to send a signal that the viciousness of a handful of killers does not stop the world from doing vital business."
A French foreign ministry official told AFP that "147 heads of state and government are expected" at the highly-anticipated Conference of Parties.
This would make it one of the biggest gatherings ever of world leaders outside the UN General Assembly in New York.
The previous largest climate gathering in Copenhagen in 2009, amassed some 115 world leaders, according to the UN climate forum. France has insisted it will not "give in" to violence by postponing a summit which must produce a deal committing all the world’s nations to climate action starting in 2020. Gunmen and suicide bombers killed 130 people out for dinner, drinks and a concert on the night of November 13, prompting the authorities to cancel two mass rallies that had been organised to coincide with the summit.