New Delhi, December 5
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has decided to attend the International Summit on Climate Change to be held in the Danish capital of Copenhagen, ending days of speculation about the level of India’s representation at the historic international meet.
According to official sources, the PM will leave on December 17 to attend the “high-level segment” of the summit and return home the next day.
The announcement came two days after New Delhi declared plans to reduce the ratio of pollution due to production by 20 to 25 per cent compared with 2005 levels, while making it clear that it would not accept a legally binding emission reduction target.
Until now, speculation was that Manmohan Singh was not keen on participating in the summit and the Indian delegation at the meet would be led by Environment and Forests Minister Jairam Ramesh.
Recently the Danish Ambassador to India had met top officials of the External Affairs Ministry and renewed his government’s invitation to the Indian PM to attend the summit.
However, New Delhi had made it clear that there was no point in the PM attending the meeting if a global deal on climate change was not coming through. US President Barack Obama,
Chinese President Hu Jintao, French President Nicholas Sarkozy and British Prime Minister Gordon Brown are among the top world leaders expected to attend the summit.
During his just-concluded visit to Washington, the PM was requested by President Obama to attend the summit. The French President and the British Prime Minister had also wanted him to lead the Indian delegation at the meet.
The summit will start on December 7 with negotiators from more than 190 countries trying to narrow down their differences and presenting to the heads of government at the high-level segment with their report. It would then be up to the leaders to iron out the remaining differences and come up with an agreed declaration, if possible.
The main points of contention at the Copenhagen summit will be the extent to which industrialised countries will cut their greenhouse gas emissions and by when; the amount of money they will pay to developing countries to deal with climate change; and how green technologies will be transferred.The United Nations is aiming for a comprehensive political agreement at the meeting.
