Washington, November 29 (EFE).- The White House reported this Wednesday that US Vice President Kamala Harris will travel to Dubai to attend the UN summit on climate change, COP28, an announcement that comes after criticism of the American president, Joe Biden, accepted due to absence.

The White House announced in a statement that Harris will be in Dubai on December 1 and 2 to participate in COP28 and advance “the United States’ climate goals and contribute to achieving strong results” during the summit.

Additionally, in another statement, the White House reported a telephone call this Wednesday between Biden and his counterpart from the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan.

In the call, Biden told Mohamed bin Zayed, known as MBZ, that Harris would lead the US delegation and be tasked with highlighting US “global leadership” on climate issues, while helping to promote “greater global ambition” in this regard. . incident.

The US delegation also includes special envoy for climate change, John Kerry, the White House said.

Biden, who has made the fight against climate change one of the cornerstones of his national and international policies, participated in two previous summits hosted by the UN, COP27 in Egypt and COP26 in the UK.

The White House has not provided an explanation for why Biden did not attend the event and some environmental groups criticized the decision, citing a missed opportunity to put the climate crisis at the top of the international agenda.

The COP28 summit begins this Thursday in Dubai and will end on December 12.