More than 30 countries on the Atlantic Ocean are forming a partnership to cooperate on issues such as technology, a sustainable ocean economy and climate change, the White House said Tuesday.
The Partnership for Atlantic Cooperation involves nations from four continents and was forged on the sidelines of the U.N. General Assembly meeting in New York City.
The partnership is designed to spur cooperation on issues like commercial fishing while acknowledging warming waters and rising sea levels that could pose serious challenges.
“This is the first multilateral entity of this scope open to all Atlantic nations, bridging four continents,” Secretary of State Antony Blinken told participants at a ministerial meeting in New York late Monday. “And at a moment when there’s some doubt about our ability to come together in common cause, we’re showing with this initiative that it is indeed possible.”
He said the first order of business will be promoting scientific data on the ocean and ways to combat plastic pollution while training the next generation of Atlantic researchers.