WASHINGTON: The US Secretary of State-designate, Hillary Clinton, has said countries including India must be made part of any agreement on climate change and announced that the Obama Administration would appoint a Climate Change Envoy for the purpose.
"As we move toward Copenhagen and attempt to craft a climate change agreement, all the major nations must be part of it. You know, China, India, Russia, and others, they have to be part of whatever agreement we put forth," Clinton said during the course of her nomination hearing before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee yesterday.
"I think, as I say, this can be both included in but also independently given attention to by emphasizing energy security which I intend to do," she said.
In response to a question from Senator John Kerry, Chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Clinton said: "We will have a climate change envoy negotiator, because we want to elevate it and we want to have one person who will lead our international efforts."
At the same time, she said that America's credibility leading internationally will depend, in large measure, on what the US is able to accomplish here at home.
