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| Krishna urges ambitious but fair climate targets |
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Saturday, July 04, 2009
TOKYO: India’s foreign minister on Friday called for an ambitious but fair greenhouse gas reduction target under a new climate treaty, saying any pact should not hinder the economic growth of developing countries. “We agreed that climate change is an important global challenge,” Foreign Minister SM Krishna said in Tokyo after meeting his Japanese counterpart Hirofumi Nakasone during a four-day visit.
“We hope that all countries will participate constructively,” he told a joint news conference.
However, Krishna stressed the need for “an ambitious and at the same time equitable and fair outcome at Copenhagen in 2009 which ensures that developing countries are able to continue their economic growth at an accelerated pace.”
A December summit in the Danish capital is intended to secure a new international agreement on climate change to replace the Kyoto Protocol, which expires in 2012. India — like fellow developing heavyweight China — has refused to commit to emission cuts in the new treaty until developed nations, particularly the United States, present sufficient targets of their own. Nakasone called on India to take the lead in persuading developing countries to join the new treaty.
“I expressed my hope and expectations for India to exercise its leadership even more positively and comprehensively,” he said. “The minister and I shared the view that we should step up our bilateral dialogue on this issue.”
Japan last month said it plans to cut its own greenhouse gas emissions by the equivalent of eight percent from 1990 levels by the end of the next decade, a goal attacked as too little by environmentalists.
The two foreign ministers also agreed that the world should step up pressure on North Korea by implementing UN sanctions over its nuclear weapons and missile tests.
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ISSN 1563-9479 
