Chile to host U.N. climate talks in 2019

Chilean Minister of Environment Carolina Schmidt reacts after Chile was named the host of COP25 conference, during the final day of the COP24 U.N. Climate Change Conference 2018 in Katowice, Poland, December 14, 2018. REUTERS/Kacper Pempel

KATOWICE, Poland (Reuters) - Chile has been selected to host the next United Nations' climate conference in 2019, it was announced at the current meeting in the Polish city of Katowice on Friday.

Brazil was initially slated to host the talks under but far-right president-elect Jair Bolsonaro pushed the Brazilian government to withdraw its offer to host conference.

Under U.N. rules, next year is the turn of a Latin American or Caribbean country to host the event.

Chilean Minister of Environment Carolina Schmidt is seen after Chile was named the host of COP25 conference, during the final day of the COP24 U.N. Climate Change Conference 2018 in Katowice, Poland, December 14, 2018. REUTERS/Kacper Pempel

Chile and Costa Rica were the forerunners. Costa Rica withdrew because of the costs but offered to help Chile in the organization of the so-called twenty-fifth Conference of the Parties (COP25).

"We are delighted to tell you that for COP25, we will be working with Costa Rica," Chile's environment minister Carolina Schmidt told the conference in Katowice on Friday.

Chilean Minister of Environment Carolina Schmidt reacts after Chile was named the host of COP25 conference, during the final day of the COP24 U.N. Climate Change Conference 2018 in Katowice, Poland, December 14, 2018. REUTERS/Kacper Pempel

(Reporting by Bate Felix; editing by Nina Chestney)