New Delhi: Ahead of the climate change talks in Copenhagen, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Tuesday accused the developed nations of making “concerted attempts” to impose emission cuts on developing countries and said such moves could affect economic progress.
“There are concerted attempts by the developed countries to impose new obligations on developing countries like India to limit emission of greenhouse gases. This could impact on our economic development,” Dr. Singh told the Army Commanders Conference here.
He said food and energy security were central to the nation’s development goals. “Given our vast demands, we have to ensure that our interests are adequately protected in all international discussions on these issues.”
Dr. Singh said India was “ready to negotiate a Fissile Material Cut-off Treaty (FMCT) which is multilateral, non-discriminatory and verifiable.” He said it needed to be ensured that discriminatory standards and approaches in global disarmament were not perpetuated.
“As a responsible nuclear weapon state, we wish to see nuclear disarmament that is global, non-discriminatory and universal in nature.” India has said it will not sign the NPT in its present form.
