Ramesh arrives for Global Sustainability meet in New York

RAMESH

Betwa Sharma
New York, Sept 19 (PTI) Indian Environment minister
Jairam Ramesh arrived here on Sunday to attend the Global
Sustainability Panel meet to discuss measures to reduce
poverty and promote sustainable development while preserving
the climate.
The meeting convened by Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon
on the sidelines of the opening week of General Assembly, will
be held later on Sunday.
The 21-member High-Level Panel, formed in August,
includes Ramesh of India, Susan E Rice, US envoy to the UN,
Kevin Rudd, Foreign Minister of Australia and Connie
Hedegaard, the European Union’s Commissioner for Climate
Change.
The meet will discuss how the world can reduce poverty
and promote sustainable development while preserving the
climate and natural systems.
The Panel, which is co-chaired by Finland's President
Tarja Halonen and South African President Jacob Zuma, will
deliver its final report to the Secretary-General at the end
of 2011.
Ban will use the recommendations of the Panel to
provide inputs into the preparations of the annual climate
change conference-held every year, and the UN Conference on
Sustainable Development to be held in 2012.
After joining the Panel in August, Ramesh said,
"accelerated economic growth is essential, but equally,
sustainable development is imperative.
I look forward to joining the United Nations
Secretary General's Panel to re-explore this balance and to
craft a global agenda that makes it a reality, an agenda of
real tangible actions."
During his week long stay in New York, Ramesh
will also be attending the Major Economies Forum meeting on
Monday, and the Conference on Bio Diversity at the UN.
The environment minister will be meeting his
counterparts from several countries during the course of the
week. Meanwhile, Foreign Minister S M Krishna is set to arrive
in New York on Tuesday to attend the opening week of the
General Assembly.
Krishna is expected to speak at the high-level
meeting on the Millennium Development Goals, which has been
convened five years ahead of the 2015 deadline, and later this
week, he will address the General Assembly.
Krishna will also be meeting his counterparts from
other nations including Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.
More than 140 world leaders will be attending
opening session of the GA including US President Barack Obama,
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejed and French President
Nicholas Sarkozy.
Other major events on the sidelines of the General
Assembly include the annual session of the Clinton Global
Initiative, which will feature a host of speakers on several
development, political and health related issues including
Nobel Laureate Muhammad Yunus, Ratan Tata, Bill Gates and
First Lady Michele Obama. PTI BS
MYR



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