Japan, Ukraine agree to cooperate on climate change+

TOKYO, March 25 Kyodo - Japanese Prime Minister Taro Aso and Ukrainian Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko agreed Wednesday to enhance cooperation between the two countries to tackle climate change.

Aso and Tymoshenko said after their talks that they welcome an agreement under
which Ukraine will sell greenhouse gas emissions rights to Japan and the
Ukrainian prime minister said the country is interested in selling more of its
emissions quotas to Japan.
''We agreed to effectively utilize Japan's funds and technology which were
obtained from this scheme,'' Aso said in a joint news conference, adding that
Japan will dispatch to Ukraine representatives of companies that have
technologies related to the environment.
Japan will acquire 30 million tons of emission rights from the Ukrainian
government under a contract on so-called Assigned Amount Units, to help fulfill
its Kyoto Protocol commitment to cut emissions by 6 percent from 1990 levels by
2012.
''Japan is the best partner to help us modernize,'' Tymoshenko said. ''We'd
like to deepen bilateral cooperation in such fields of partnership'' as
energy-saving technology and technology to cut emissions.
To help revitalize the Ukrainian economy, hit hard by the global financial
crisis, Aso said Japan will dispatch a financial expert at an early date, while
the two countries agreed on the importance of fighting protectionism in order
to seek a recovery in the global economy.
Aso also said Japan will continue supporting Ukraine in its efforts for further
democratization and a shift to a market economy.
==Kyodo
2009-03-25 23:51:15