“We decided to withdraw our delegation and reevaluate our position, nothing more,” Werthein said. “I think it’s a sovereign right.”
The Argentinian embassy in Baku did not respond to a request for comment.
Argentinian President Javier Milei has described climate change and the international effort to contain it as a “socialist lie.”
On Thursday, he met with Trump at the incoming president’s Mar-a-Lago club in Florida. Milei was the first head of state Trump received in person since winning the Nov. 5 election.
During his campaign, Trump said he would withdraw the United States from the Paris deal. The U.S. left briefly during Trump’s first term. But no other countries followed.
Trump’s election and the exit of Argentina’s diplomats have cast a shadow over this year’s COP, which is seeking a major new deal to help developing countries, including Argentina, finance clean energy and protect themselves from extreme weather.
Speaking to reporters in Baku about Milei’s order for Argentina’s negotiating team to leave the talks, the EU’s lead negotiator Jacob Werksman said: “It is worrying. It’s of course concerning whenever any party leaves the process.”
Zia Weise contributed to this report from Baku.
