Singh, Jiabao Holds Talks in Copenhagen
Ahead of world leaders’ meeting in Copenhagen, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and his Chinese counterpart Wen Jiabao held talks on Friday to consolidate the position of developing countries as negotiators continue to struggle to finalise a draft for the climate change summit.
During the meeting, Singh said in his opening remarks that the two countries have been cooperating at various fora, including the G-20.
“We need to continue the cooperation,” the Prime Minister said.
Singh arrived in the Danish capital late last night to participate in the high-level segment of the 12-day UN climate talks.
Besides Singh and Wen, US President Barack Obama, British Prime Minister Gordon Brown and French President Nicholas Sarkozy are among the 110 world leaders who would attend the 15th Conference of Parties (COP) on its final day today.
Singh, during his talks with Wen, expressed the hope that they would be able to take their strategic partnership further.
He said he believed that the importance of the Sino-India relations was underlined by the fact that the two leaders were meeting again now on the sidelines of COP, recalling that they had earlier met in Thailand on the margins of the ASEAN summit in October.
The developing countries have been resisting attempts by the rich nations to set aside the Kyoto Protocol, which sets legally binding greenhouse gas emissions reduction targets for industrialised nations.
