SYRIA said at the United Nations climate talks in Bonn today that it will join the Paris Agreement, leaving the US as the only nation to say it will remain outside the landmark treaty.

“We are going to join the Paris Agreement,” the Syrian delegate, speaking in Arabic, said during a plenary session at the 196-nation talks, according to Safa Al Jayoussi of the IndyAct organisation, who was monitoring the session.

The US ratified the 2015 pact, but President Donald Trump announced earlier this year that he would pull out, saying the pact did not serve US interests.

“It is our understanding that the government of Syria announced today their intent to join the Paris Agreement,” Nick Nuttall, the spokesman for the UN climate body, told AFP.

Other parties at the 12-day negotiations, tasked with elaborating and implementing the agreement, welcomed the news.

“Syria joining the Paris Agreement will be a good thing,” South Africa’s chief negotiator, Maesela Kekana, told AFP.

War-torn Syria would be the 197th country to sign on to the climate pact, which vows to hold global warming to “well below” 2°C.

Openly isolated on the climate issue at G-7 and G-20 meetings earlier this year, the US said it intended to withdraw “unless the president can identify terms that are more favourable to American businesses, workers and taxpayers”.

The Trump administration has not said what those terms might be. – AFP, November 7, 2017.