Prime Minister Mark Brown hit the ground running on Monday upon arrival at the 2024 United Nations Climate Change Conference or Conference of the Parties of the UNFCCC, COP29 signing an agreement for pilot projects in the Pa Enua.

Brown, speaking from Baku, the capital city of Azerbaijan, the largest city on the Caspian Sea said that the Cook Islands delegation first met and attended the signing ceremony with the Centre for Climate Change Mobility to be part of a pilot project for community based resilience financing.

“As an initiator of this project the Cook Islands will receive a $500,000 grant for community based resilience projects especially in the Pa Enua,” Brown had said.

The delegation led by PM Brown that includes his chief of staff Ben Ponia and director for Climate Change Cook Islands will advocate for climate finance, keeping 1.5 degrees alive and transparency in negotiations.

King says they would advocate for these three key areas alongside other Pacific colleagues.

He had earlier mentioned that climate finance was a key priority to ensure that all of the developing world are able to implement the Paris Agreement in a sustainable way, and to build the resilience needed to adapt to a changing world then financial and technical resources are required.

King says “The amount agreed up until 2020 is US$10bn per year. The negotiators, including the Cook Islands climate team (CCCI/Ministry of Finance and Economic Management) are also engaged in a new goal which according to some groups of negotiators are now in the trillions of dollars.”

The PM and his delegation all attended the Moana Blue Pacific Pavilion and the Pacific Delegation Office officially opened at COP29 on Monday.

According to SPREP, a traditional Hawaiian welcome was made by Conrad Morgan, a poetry reading by a Pacific Islands poet Audrey Brown Pereira and singing from Tuvaluans that helped build the Pacific spirit.

It was also attended by Todd Croad, Head of the New Zealand Delegation, Josh Wilson - Assistant Minister for Climate Change and Energy, Australia and Sefanaia Nawadra Director General of SPREP.

SPREP states that the festive event is a highlight for many during COP29 and it is a Pacific partnership with the Governments of Australia and New Zealand managed by the Secretariat of the Pacific Regional Environment Programme (SPREP).

COP20 ends on November 22, 2024.