RIYADH: Saudi Arabia will host the Middle East and North Africa Climate Week in 2023, Saudi Energy Minister Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman announced on Saturday.

"We are talking with the UNFCC Secretariat and we will host the MENA Climate Week in 2023," the Prince said during a panel discussion at the Saudi Green Initiative event, organized in conjunction with the COP27 climate conference in Egypt.

The minister said that Saudi Arabia is making efforts to establish a regional center to promote emission reduction.

The center will open its doors in Riyadh next year.

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The minister said, "We have received approval from the Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia, ECSWA, and we will start construction on that center in the middle of Riyadh next year.

The Prince also revealed that a knowledge hub for the circular carbon economy will be launched in Riyadh on January 1, 2023.

With the hope that our friends and colleagues will join us in sharing experiences, knowledge and lessons learned, he added, “We are launching a CCE Knowledge Hub.”

The announcement was made on Saturday during the Saudi Green Initiative, which was organized in conjunction with COP27.

Prince urged the audience to learn more about the world's "forgotten 2.6 billion citizens" who try to make a living during the panel by burning trees and preparing food for their children.

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We must not ignore the roughly one third of the world's population whose needs must be met or we will actually make the problem of climate change worse.

During the summit, Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman announced that the country would host the headquarters of the Middle East Green Initiative and contribute $2.5 billion over the next ten years.

As part of its efforts to build a greener future, the Saudi Green Initiative Program seeks to establish a regional carbon capture and storage center, an early storm warning center and a cloud seeding program.

As the Kingdom steadily works towards realizing its goal of being net-zero by 2060, the Saudi Arabian Oil Company, one of the world's largest oil producers, signed an agreement with the Saudi Ministry of Energy on 10 November. Together installed carbon capture and storage hubs.

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The energy minister claimed the Kingdom could reach net-zero before the 2060 deadline following the announcement of the new project.