ID :
69580
Thu, 07/09/2009 - 20:39
Auther :
Shortlink :
https://oananews.org//node/69580
The shortlink copeid
Agreement on climate change unlikely at G8-G5 meet
V S Chandrasekar
L'Aquila (Italy), Jul 8 (PTI) An early agreement on
climate change between the industrialised G-8 countries and
the emerging major economies of G-5 appears unlikely with the
developed world focusing more on the current economic downturn
than on setting goals for reducing global warming.
India and China, among the major emerging economies, are
said to be reluctant on agreeing with the industrialised West
on climate change without the developed nations committing
themselves to targets on greenhouse gas emissions and
technology transfer on controlling pollution and its funding.
Meeting in this mountain town, which was wrecked by an
earthquake in April, leaders grappled with the joint
declaration of Thursday's summit of G-8 with the outreach
countries of G-5 in which issues like replacement of dollar
with SDRs as international currency by China and Russia being
relegated to the background.
On the global economic crisis, the draft statement
talks of significant risks that are there for the economic
and financial stability and warned against "exit strategies"
from stimulus and growth packages once recovery is assured.
The G-8 summit with G-5, including countries like India,
China, Brazil, South Africa and Mexico, for which India's
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh is here, comes against the
backdrop of the G-20 meeting in Washington in November and the
London summit in April when it was decided to inject trillions
of dollars for global economic recovery.
Prime Minister Singh is heading a high-level delegation
to the conference which has among others India's National
Security Adviser M K Narayanan, Foreign Secretary Shivshankar
Menon and Special Envoy on Climate Change Shyam Saran as
members.
The draft document of the summit, which includes
meeting of the 17-nation Major Economies Forum, says "stable
and sustainable long-term growth will require a smooth
unwinding of the existing imbalances in current accounts."
Officials do not not expect any breakthrough in the
summit as the forum was not not a negotiating point for
matters of international trade or climate change.
However, countries like India are of the opinion that
leaders of the developed world should give a positive message
for officials to build on a consensus ahead of the Copenhagen
summit on climate change in December.
The G-20 leaders will be meeting again in the US in
September this year.
Host of the summit and Italian Prime Minister Silvio
Berlusconi spoke of meeting the Chinese objections as the G-8
appeared to have failed to persuade China and India to agree
to a goal of halving world greenhouse gas emissions by 2050.
The draft for Thursday's meeting of the Major Economies
Forum has no no reference to this and spoke of the need to
limit the average increase in global temperature to 2 degrees
Celsius over the level that prevailed before industrial
revolution.
However, the developing nations were of the view that the
levels fixed for industrialised countries cannot be applied to
them because of the need for industrialisation in their
economies.
The emerging economies were also keen that the
industrialised nations must come upfront on providing clean
technology to them and submit proposals on the table along
with the funding mechanism for it. They have this role for
historical reasons, an Indian negotiator said.
However, the summit may come with an agreement in the
area of trade with the draft communique speaking of the need
to agree on concluding the stalled Doha round of trade talks
in 2010.
Also high on the agenda of world leaders, who started
gathering here for their annual summit, are discussions on
widening the G-8 forum which comprises Britain, Canada,
France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Russia and the United States.
President Hu Jintao of China, a key member of G-5,
abruptly cut short his visit in the wake of the deadly
communal riots in his country's restive Xinjiang region tat
claimed over 150 lives.
At their summit, the leaders are also expected to discuss
security issues, including Iran's crackdown on pro-democracy
demonstrators and North Korea's nuclear test and firing of
ballistic missiles in violation of UN resolutions. PTI VSC
anu
L'Aquila (Italy), Jul 8 (PTI) An early agreement on
climate change between the industrialised G-8 countries and
the emerging major economies of G-5 appears unlikely with the
developed world focusing more on the current economic downturn
than on setting goals for reducing global warming.
India and China, among the major emerging economies, are
said to be reluctant on agreeing with the industrialised West
on climate change without the developed nations committing
themselves to targets on greenhouse gas emissions and
technology transfer on controlling pollution and its funding.
Meeting in this mountain town, which was wrecked by an
earthquake in April, leaders grappled with the joint
declaration of Thursday's summit of G-8 with the outreach
countries of G-5 in which issues like replacement of dollar
with SDRs as international currency by China and Russia being
relegated to the background.
On the global economic crisis, the draft statement
talks of significant risks that are there for the economic
and financial stability and warned against "exit strategies"
from stimulus and growth packages once recovery is assured.
The G-8 summit with G-5, including countries like India,
China, Brazil, South Africa and Mexico, for which India's
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh is here, comes against the
backdrop of the G-20 meeting in Washington in November and the
London summit in April when it was decided to inject trillions
of dollars for global economic recovery.
Prime Minister Singh is heading a high-level delegation
to the conference which has among others India's National
Security Adviser M K Narayanan, Foreign Secretary Shivshankar
Menon and Special Envoy on Climate Change Shyam Saran as
members.
The draft document of the summit, which includes
meeting of the 17-nation Major Economies Forum, says "stable
and sustainable long-term growth will require a smooth
unwinding of the existing imbalances in current accounts."
Officials do not not expect any breakthrough in the
summit as the forum was not not a negotiating point for
matters of international trade or climate change.
However, countries like India are of the opinion that
leaders of the developed world should give a positive message
for officials to build on a consensus ahead of the Copenhagen
summit on climate change in December.
The G-20 leaders will be meeting again in the US in
September this year.
Host of the summit and Italian Prime Minister Silvio
Berlusconi spoke of meeting the Chinese objections as the G-8
appeared to have failed to persuade China and India to agree
to a goal of halving world greenhouse gas emissions by 2050.
The draft for Thursday's meeting of the Major Economies
Forum has no no reference to this and spoke of the need to
limit the average increase in global temperature to 2 degrees
Celsius over the level that prevailed before industrial
revolution.
However, the developing nations were of the view that the
levels fixed for industrialised countries cannot be applied to
them because of the need for industrialisation in their
economies.
The emerging economies were also keen that the
industrialised nations must come upfront on providing clean
technology to them and submit proposals on the table along
with the funding mechanism for it. They have this role for
historical reasons, an Indian negotiator said.
However, the summit may come with an agreement in the
area of trade with the draft communique speaking of the need
to agree on concluding the stalled Doha round of trade talks
in 2010.
Also high on the agenda of world leaders, who started
gathering here for their annual summit, are discussions on
widening the G-8 forum which comprises Britain, Canada,
France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Russia and the United States.
President Hu Jintao of China, a key member of G-5,
abruptly cut short his visit in the wake of the deadly
communal riots in his country's restive Xinjiang region tat
claimed over 150 lives.
At their summit, the leaders are also expected to discuss
security issues, including Iran's crackdown on pro-democracy
demonstrators and North Korea's nuclear test and firing of
ballistic missiles in violation of UN resolutions. PTI VSC
anu
