Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt, 18 November 2022 (dpa/MIA) – The deadline for a global climate conference taking place in Egypt has been extended to Saturday in an attempt to resolve disagreements over major issues. The two-week conference, known as COP27, had been due to conclude on Friday in the Egyptian resort of Sharm el-Sheikh. But, Egypt’s Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry, the COP president, said the conference would be extended to allow more time for talks taking place amid divisions among negotiators gathering in the Red Sea town. “Today we need to shift gears again, time is not on our side,” Shoukry said. “I remain committed to bringing this conference to a close tomorrow [Saturday],” he added. “The global community is looking to us to be bold and ambitious,” the official told delegates. “We have a lot of work ahead of us. So let us swiftly get back to work.” A thorny issue at the centre of the UN-led talks is the payment of reparations for damage caused by climate change in poorer countries. Delegates of the conference have already agreed to place the issue, known as loss and damage funding, on the agenda for the first time. Developing countries have long pressed for the creation of a financial mechanism to address climate-induced harm in low-income countries. The European Union has signalled a readiness for compromise on funding for vulnerable countries. Creating a fund for climate damage is not the EU's preferred option, but is a step towards meeting developing countries' demands, the bloc’s top climate official Frans Timmermans said on Friday. However, the EU's willingness to compromise comes with strings attached. Firstly, the money must benefit the most vulnerable countries - a condition aimed at preventing China, a top global emitter, from benefiting from the payments. Moreover, climate damage reparations must be linked to deeper cuts in emissions. "Mitigation, adaptation and loss and damage all go together," Timmermans, a European Commission vice president, told reporters in Sharm el-Sheikh. "The EU has presented a proposal that could see #COP27 agree to a #lossanddamage fund - targeted to the most vulnerable, reflecting the financial realities of 2022," Timmermans said on Twitter. "It must go hand-in-hand with higher ambition on emissions reductions." Late Thursday, Timmermans proposed that the loss and damage fund be financed by a "broad donor base." The facility should be part of a "mosaic of solutions," which also includes looking at debts and reforming multinational development banks, he said. The proposal came shortly after UN chief António Guterres said negotiations at COP27 were at "crunch time" and appealed to all parties to deliver what he termed "meaningful climate action." He cited a "breakdown in trust between North and South, and between developed and emerging economies." Guterres had flown back into Egypt to give a much-needed fillip to the conference. “We know what we need to do - and we have the tools and resources to get it done,” he said. On Friday, a coalition of more than 130 developing countries, known as the G77 group, rejected suggestions that the envisaged climate compensation fund be postponed to next year. “We need to have decisions that are as simple and fast as possible,” Pakistani climate minister Sherry Rehman told the conference on Friday. Pakistan, the incumbent head of G77, had experienced devastating and deadly floods this year. Keeping heat on negotiators at COP27, dozens of activists Friday renewed their demand for immediate endorsement of the climate compensation payments during a march on the conference’s venue. Several protesters raised slogans, reading: “Delay = denial,” “pay up for loss and damage," and "Droughts, floods, hunger and displacement are the new trend in Africa.” The COP27 conference is taking places amid geopolitical tensions and multiple global crises in food and energy. The event also comes after climate disasters have taken a huge toll on lives and livelihoods in several parts of the globe.