ANKARA (Reuters) -Turkey has proposed jointly leading next year’s U.N. climate summit with Australia, though the two sides have not yet reached an agreement and the discussions on the hosting standoff remain unresolved, Turkish diplomatic sources said.

Australia and Turkey both submitted bids in 2022 to host COP31 and neither has withdrawn, leading to an attention-sapping impasse that must be overcome at this year’s COP30 meeting currently taking place in Belem, Brazil.

The annual COP – or Conference of the Parties – is the world’s main forum for driving climate action. The host matters because they set the agenda and lead the diplomacy needed to reach global agreements.

The Turkish sources said Turkey and Australia explored a joint presidency model during talks on the margins of the U.

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