Singapore joined the world today in congratulating newly sworn-in U.S. President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris, welcoming the United States back into the Paris Agreement climate accords.
Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong and President Halimah Yacob both wrote congratulatory letters to Biden yesterday, noting that the new leader was taking the helm amid a very challenging time. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs then officially welcomed Washington’s re-entry to the international treaty legally binding countries to deal with climate change after Biden signed an executive action doing so, along with others related to the coronavirus, immigration, and more.
“Climate change is an existential threat to mankind and requires a concerted and sustained global response,” Singapore’s ministry said in a press statement today. “The United States’ decision to return to the Paris Agreement is a positive development that provides an important boost to ongoing global efforts to address climate change collectively.”
Former President Trump formally exited the Paris Agreement in November. Biden and Harris were inaugurated as the 46th American administration after defeating Donald Trump and Mike Pence in November.
President Halimah described Biden as someone with “decades of experience in public office” who will provide a “stable, guiding hand during this critical juncture for America and the international community.”
In Lee’s letter, he said: “Strong American leadership will make a decisive difference to our collective recovery and the shape of the post-COVID-19 world.”
More than 400,000 Americans have died of the coronavirus, about a fifth of the world’s total death toll.
Other stories:
Deja Coup: Thais see dark reflection in failed American insurrection
Reader Interactions