China plays important role in consolidating South-South cooperation: COP22 president

China plays "very important" role in promoting and consolidating South-South partnership, Climate Change Conference (COP22) President Salaheddine Mezouar said here on Saturday.

In an interview with Xinhua, Mezouar said South-South cooperation is a main area of discussion at COP22 as it has a great potential for boosting climate change agenda.

He said this approach will enable developing countries to have common responses to their pressing needs.

"My conviction is that China has an extremely important role to play in accompanying, reinforcing and boosting South-South partnership and support sustainable development policies in the African continent," said Mezouar, who is also Morocco's Foreign Minister said.

China's pavilion at COP22 will host on Monday a high-level forum on South-South cooperation on climate change.

The event will be attended by top officials including Salaheddine Mezouar, Xie Zhenhua, China's special representative on climate change affairs, and other top officials from the UN agencies and other developing countries.

"I am looking forward for the meeting," he said, adding that it will deepen exchanges among developing countries so that they can better address climate change, achieve sustainable development and maintain the momentum towards wider South-South cooperation. Endit