"It's critical that all of us come together right now, the big economies, the smaller economies"

The critical time has come for all of us to come together, the bigger economies as well as the smaller economies, to band together in the battle against climate change, says United States Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asian Affairs Donald Lu.

Assistant Secretary Lu arrived in the Maldives on a short visit earlier this week, during which he sat down with RaajjeTV for an exclusive interview.

When questioned on how the U.S. being one of the world leaders, help the Maldivian government achieve its ambitious plan to reach net-zero by 2030, Assistant Secretary Lu revealed that President of the 76th session of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) and Maldives Foreign Minister Abdulla Shahid has shown “such incredible” leadership in convincing the globe that more joint action is required in the fight against climate change.

Expressing his desire to be supporting green energy in the Maldives, Assistant Secretary Lu revealed that there is a wonderful opportunity to achieve this, in joint cooperation.

Further, the Assistant Secretary stated that Maldives has helped many countries across the globe to make ambitious commitments to try reduce greenhouse gases.

He added that clearly, more needs to be done, especially in helping the bigger economies of the globe to further reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

When asked whether he believed there is a future for small island states against climate change, the Assistant Secretary expressed his confidence that “we will be able to do something to tackle this climate challenge”.