New Delhi
5 December 2009
It's official: Prime Minister Manmohan Singh will attend the United Nations Climate
Change Conference in Copenhagen later this month.
The announcement came close on the heels of the United States President Barack Obama's
last-minute decision to attend the conference on December 18, instead of December 9. Obama
had originally planned to attend the conference on December 9, on his way to a Nobel Peace
Prize gathering in Oslo, Norway, which drew a strong rebuke from President Nicolas Sarkozy of
France and others, who wondered why he would want to skip the high-level segment of the
conference, on December 17 and 18, when most world leaders will be present.
Now, Obama's presence on the concluding day of the 12-day-long conference is expected to add
political weight to the negotiations. A White House statement attributed Obama's decision in part
to the progress in advancing the Danish proposal for an immediate, operational accord, and to
the right noises made by India and China in the run-up to the talks. Following Obama's bilateral
meetings with Prime Minister Singh and Premier Wen, India and China "have for the first time
set targets to reduce their carbon intensity," it said. There has also been progress in advancing
the Danish proposal that covers all of the issues under negotiation, including the endorsement
of key elements of this approach by the 53 countries represented at the Commonwealth Summit
in November.
"Based on his conversations with other leaders and the progress that has already been made to
give momentum to negotiations, the President believes that continued US leadership can be
most productive through his participation at the end of the Copenhagen conference on December
18th rather than on December 9th," the statement read. It went on to explain that though there
are still outstanding issues that must be negotiated for an agreement to be reached, Obama's
decision to participate in the conference on December 18 "reflects [his] commitment to doing all
that he can to pursue a positive outcome."
The Prime Minister's Office here said that Dr Singh's decision to undertake a two-day visit to
Copenhagen for the heads of state / government segment of the conference on December 17 and
18 reflects the importance attached by New Delhi to the conference, where it is expected to play
a crucial role. India, which wants "substantive legally-binding" outcome from the Copenhagen
conference, has said that it would be "flexible" in the negotiations without jeopardising the
national interests.
India will voluntarily reduce carbon emission intensity by 20 to 25 per cent by 2020 from the
2005 levels but will not accept any legally binding cuts in carbon emissions. Mr Ramesh, who
made the announcement here on Thursday, asserted that there is no question of accepting any
legally binding emission cuts and agreeing on any "peaking year" for its emissions. Rejecting
the Opposition charge that government was preparing for a "sell-out" in the Copenhagen summit
by giving up on its long-held positions, he said, "I am not buying a ticket to Copenhagen to
drown India's interests there."
Obama and Prime Minister Singh will be among the about 100 heads of state / government to
participate in the Summit., including Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao, German Chancellor Angela
Merkel, Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd, French President Nicolas Sarkozy and British
Prime Minister Gordon Brown.
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