Chile’s President Sebastian Pinera (center) announces at La Moneda presidential palace in Santiago, Chile on Wednesday that Chile has withdrawn as host of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Economic Forum in November and the Climate Change COP25 Conference in December after several weeks of violent protests. The APEC summit was scheduled to bring together 20 world leaders from November 16 to 17. The COP25 program was due to run between December 2 and December 13. “This has been a very difficult decision, a decision that causes us a lot of pain, because we fully understand the importance of APEC and COP25 for Chile and for the world,” Pinera said, according to Reuters. Photo: AP

 
Chile's President Sebastian Pinera will skip an important global climate change conference, which his country was supposed to host, amid ongoing unrest at home, a top official said Wednesday.

Pinera had earlier canceled hosting the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP25) as anti-government protests roiled major cities. Spain then offered to hold the event in Madrid from Dec. 2 to 13.

"President Pinera will not attend the conference. He has told us there's urgent work to do in Chile, which is why he will be staying," said his Minister of Environment Carolina Schmidt.

As Chile's envoy, Schmidt said she will chair the conference.

At the end of October, Pinera announced his government would not be able to host the COP25 due to the social upheaval, but ratified his "total and absolute commitment" to the conference.

Chileans have taken to the streets to demand better living conditions and improvements in essential services, such as healthcare, housing and education.

Protests have occasionally turned violent, leading to clashes with security forces.