King embarks on series of meetings during two-day Dubai tour ahead of Cop28

The King said he has been “recovering” from having a “rather ancient birthday” as he began a series of engagements during a two-day trip to Dubai ahead of his speech at Cop28.

Charles met the president of Nigeria, Bola Ahmed Tinubu, on Thursday morning in the first of three bilateral discussions with world leaders, with more to come on Friday.

The 30-minute meeting – ahead of an opening address to Cop28 on Friday – was the first with President Tinubu since Charles’s coronation.

The two men shook hands at a Dubai hotel and President Tinubu asked the King: “How are you?”

Charles, wearing a tan-coloured suit, replied: “I’m all right very much … just about.

“Having had a rather ancient birthday recently, recovering from the shock of that.”

Charles celebrated his 75th birthday on November 14.

Following the meeting, he travelled to the new Dubai campus of Heriot-Watt University, based in Edinburgh, and spoke to students and graduates from across the Commonwealth to hear about green tech, sustainable innovations and the role of young people in delivering climate solutions.

He said new green technologies are “fantastic” and “really encouraging”, also speaking to Foreign Secretary Lord Cameron and Scotland First Minister Humza Yousaf at the event, with Thursday being St Andrew’s Day.

The King then returned to a Dubai hotel to launch the Wildfire-Resilient Landscapes Network and speak with indigenous leaders about the unique role they play in protecting nature and wildlife.

The network brings together indigenous and scientific knowledge to help create resilient landscapes to deal with climate issues such as wildfires and share best practices from around the world.

Uyun Kar Domingo Peas, who is from the Ecuadorian Amazon and is president of the Amazon Sacred Headwaters Alliance (Asha), previously met Charles before his coronation.

He said: “It was like he is a really close friend. He is always the same.

Atossa Soltani, global strategy director for Asha, said: “Indigenous people globally represent places where 80% of the world’s biodiversity is.

“The important role His Majesty and other world leaders can play is to make sure that governments respect indigenous people and that donors and philanthropists and international finance reach these front lines where people are risking their lives to protect the forest.”

The King has had several engagements during his first day in the Gulf state, also speaking to female climate leaders to discuss the risks posed to women by climate change, and representatives of small island states, which are heavily impacted by climate change.

After holding a second bilateral talk with the president and vice president of Guyana, Charles held a third with Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, president of the United Arab Emirates, with the pair then formally launching the Cop28 Business and Philanthropy Climate Forum.

As part of the trip and his discussions with world leaders, he is also expected to promote peace in the region and worldwide.

Charles’s speech on Friday will mark the first time he has delivered the opening address at the conference as King, having previously opened Cop26 in Glasgow in 2021 and Cop21 in Paris in 2015.

Cop28 – or the Conference of Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change – begins at Expo City Dubai on Thursday and runs until December 12.

It will be attended by heads of state and government from across the globe, as well as delegates and climate bodies.