Secretary-General of the United Nations Ban Ki-Moon and French President François Hollande addressed a special session on climate change. Ban and Nicolas Sarkozy, Hollande's predecessor, had previously attended CHOGM 2009 in Trinidad and Tobago prior to the Copenhagen Summit for the same reason. Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi was absent from the meeting - his government has opposed arguments that the country should curtail its use of coal fired electrical generation and other greenhouse gases. India was instead represented by External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj.