1–3 September 2026 | Salão Nobre Ministério dos Negócios Estrangeiros e Cooperação, Dili, Timor-Leste

DILI, TIMOR-LESTE – 31st  August 2026 – Ministers, senior government officials, and climate negotiators from the world’s Least Developed Countries (LDCs) will meet in Dili from 1 to 3 September 2026 to coordinate the LDC Group’s strategy and priorities ahead of the 31st United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP31). The meetings will be headed by His Excellency Mr. Francisco Kalbuadi Lay, Vice-Prime Minister and Minister of Tourism and Environment and co-chaired by His Excellency Mr. Bendito dos Santos Freitas, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation. 

The meetings consist of a two-day comprehensive Strategy Meeting on 1-2 September followed by the Ministerial meeting on 3 September. The three-day LDC Strategy and Ministerial Meeting will provide a platform for participants to assess the state of current climate negotiations, strengthen common positions, and agree on key messages for COP31. Discussions will focus on the issues most critical to countries that have contributed least to climate change but remain among the most exposed to its impacts.

Key priorities to be discussed will include access to climate finance and other resources, adaptation, mitigation, just transition, loss and damage, technology, transparency, Article 6, agriculture, capacity-building, gender and climate change. Participants will also consider the implementation of national adaptation plans.

The strategy sessions on 1 and 2 September will bring together LDC negotiators and technical experts for detailed discussions and collaborative working sessions to shape the Group’s positions and priorities ahead of COP31. A dedicated session will consider climate science and the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, with particular attention to aligning the IPCC’s Seventh Assessment Report cycle with the second Global Stocktake and ensuring that LDC circumstances are adequately reflected. Participants will also examine emerging issues such as trade, health, mountains, oceans and migration, alongside the COP31 Action Agenda and related initiatives.

The high-level ministerial programme on 3 September will provide an opportunity for LDC Ministers to take stock of the geopolitical and negotiating landscape, and reaffirm the Group’s priorities. Ministers will provide strategic guidance on the LDC Group engagement at COP31 in Antalya, Turkiye and conclude the Meeting with the adoption of   the Dili Ministerial  Declaration, a high-level statement that will set out the Group’s priorities and expectations.

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Editor’s Note

About the LDC Group

The Least Developed Countries Group on Climate Change represents the 44 countries, across Africa, Pacific Asia and the Caribbean, identified by the United Nations as facing the most significant structural constraints to sustainable development. Within the UN climate negotiations, the Group works collectively to advance ambitious, equitable climate action that reflects the specific needs and circumstances of LDCs.

Ambassador Adão Soares Barbosa is the current Chair of the Least Developed Countries (LDC) Group on Climate Change representing the Government of Timor- Leste. He is Timor-Leste’s Special Envoy and Ambassador-at-Large for Climate Affairs. He has more than two decades of experience in international climate policy and negotiations and has been deeply engaged in the UN climate change process since the early 2000s.