Oct. 21: India and China, on Wednesday, agreed to set up a joint working group (JWG) to exchange views and deliberate on international negotiations related to climate change. Both the countries have similar stand on the issue and want that developed nations should do more to fight the climate change menace. A Memorandum of Agreement (MoA) was signed between both the countries on Wednesday where it was also agreed that annual meetings of scientists and economists from both countries would be held.
It was also decided that India and China would conduct joint research and development programmes in areas of solar and wind energy, coal technology and forestry. The agreement was signed by environment minister Jairam Ramesh and China’s vice-chairman of national development and reform commission, Xie Zhenhua.
The JWG will hold meetings alternately in China and India every year where discussion on respective domestic policies, measures and implementation of related cooperative projects would be taken up. The JWG is part of the steps listed in the MoA to boost cooperation on climate change issues. After signing the agreement, environment minister Mr Ramesh said the MoA was first of its kind for both China and India and the cooperation has fructified within the short span of less than a month.
"There is no difference between the Indian and Chinese negotiating positions and we are discussing further what the two countries should be doing for a successful outcome at Copenhagen," he said.
