Sheikha Mayassa participates in COP18

Qatar Museum Authority’s (QMA) Board of Trustees Chairperson HE Sheikha Al Mayassa bint Hamad Al Thani on Tuesday took part in a COP18 session at the Qatar National Convention Center under the theme “Gender and Climate: Moving Beyond the Rhetoric.” The session was attended by Chairman of Qatar’s Administrative Control and Transparency Authority and COP18 President HE Abdullah bin Hamad Al Attiyah, and United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) Executive Secretary Christiana Figueres, along with a number of officials from the supreme organizing committee, in addition to a number of heads of participant organizations and associations. Addressing the audience, HE Sheikha Mayassa bint Hamad Al Thani thanked the UNFCCC for choosing Doha to host the COP18 conference, which could be a turning point in climate change global talks. Representing Qatar’s government and citizens, HE Sheikha Mayassa welcomed participants in the session and said that the Qatari society continues to reaffirm gender equality, in accordance with teachings of Islam. She noted that Qatar looks at the world in terms of its geographical location, noting that Qatar is unique that it is located between the present and the past. She added that Qatar Foundation works on taking Qatar from dependence on non-renewable energy to a knowledge-based economy. HE Sheikha Mayassa also said that she believes Qatari woman was, still and will continue to play a significant role in developing the Qatari society and will face the challenges of climate change. For their part, participants emphasized that Qatar’s hosting and sponsorship of the COP18, in which women from all over the world take part, provides a platform for real interaction between involved parties so as to make a radical change and real progress in eliminating discrimination against women and facing climate change. The participants urged more communication between civil society, researchers, activists, research institutions in the region, and those working in the fields of gender equality and combating climate change.