The Turkish government has made crucial progress against climate change, Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said at a high-level United Nations meeting on climate change in New York on Tuesday.

Erdoğan said Ankara had taken important steps through which different sectors have contributed to minimizing the negative effects of climate change. “Climate change is an important test that humanity faces today,” he said. “We are facing a great threat from climate change.”

The Turkish prime minister’s remarks came hours after U.S. President Barack Obama said the United States is a serious partner in combating global warming, telling world peers “we are determined to act” at the high-level climate summit.

Turkey believes that global problems require global solutions, Erdoğan said, adding, “Climate change makes it a must for regional and global cooperation.”

Despite growing international pressure and concerns, Turkey long resisted ratifying the Kyoto Protocol. Finally, in 2009, Ankara decided to give the green light to the key agreement.

Meanwhile, Turkey’s chief negotiator for talks with the European Union, Egemen Bağış, also said Tuesday that Turkey plays an important role in solving global environmental problems. “Unless we are all secure, none of us can be secure,” Bağış said. “The cost of dealing with problems stemming from climate change and the measures to be taken must be shared.”

A diplomatic source said the chief negotiator held short meetings with prime ministers and foreign ministers of various EU countries who attended the summit on climate change. He informed high-level executives of companies working in the energy sector about Turkey's contributions to energy security and energy pipelines that the country plans to have and already has, a source said.