Times of India , Saturday, April 12, 2008

Correspondent : Staff Correspondent

TOKYO: The prime ministers of Japan and France said on Friday they wanted to put global warming and African development high on the agenda when top industrial nations meet for the Group of Eight summit. Japan will host the G8 summit in the northern mountain resort of Toyako from July 7 to 9, days after France takes over the rotating presidency of the European Union. "We agreed to jointly tackle various issues facing the international community such as development in Africa and climate change," Japanese Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda said after talks with his visiting French counterpart Francois Fillon. Japan, home of the Kyoto Protocol, hopes that the G8 summit will give direction to negotiations to come up with the most ambitious treaty yet on fighting global warming by a deadline of the end of 2009. Fillon said that Japan and France "are major political partners which share a common vision for the world's future" and called for wealthy countries to take the lead in the battle against climate change. "Industrialised countries have an essential role in showing the way towards a type of growth that emits less carbon and in inviting emerging countries to participate in the fight against global warming," Fillon said. The European Union has led calls for rich nations to slash emissions of greenhouse gases blamed for global warming by 25 to 40 percent by 2020 from 1990 levels. Japan has been cautious about further binding cuts and stressed the need to bring developing countries onboard. Fast-growing emitters such as China and India had no obligations under Kyoto, leading the United States to boycott the treaty. The Group of Eight comprises Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Russia and the United States.

SOURCE : Times of India, Saturday, 12 April 2008