The third meeting of BASIC ministers concluded in Cape Town April 25. The meeting was cut short by a day, as Indian Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh had to leave early because of his commitment in Parliament.

"The ministers felt that a legally-binding outcome should be concluded at Cancun, Mexico, in 2010, or at the latest in South Africa by 2011," a joint statement of environment ministers of BASIC countries said.

The ministers took note of reports that domestic legislation in the US had been postponed and indicated that the world could not wait indefinitely, as it hinders their ability to reach an internationally legally binding agreement, it said.

The statement also said that the developing countries strongly support international legally-binding agreements, as the lack of such agreements hurts developing countries more than developed nations.

The ministers said that negotiations should follow a two-pronged approach. One track is on long-term cooperative action to combat climate change. The other is for developed countries to commit to what extent they will reduce their greenhouse gas emissions after 2012, when the current commitment period of the Kyoto Protocol runs out.

The ministers were of the view that it would not be possible to deal with mitigation actions by developing countries, without dealing with support for those actions and the two-fold commitments by developed countries to both provide finance for developing countries and reduce their own emissions.

"The ministers noted that the Copenhagen Accord provides for the scale of finance in short and medium-term. The commitments to provide finance must be operationalised. Both the $30 billion (2010-2012) and the $100 billion annually (by 2020) should be provided by developed countries," it said.

The next BASIC ministerial meeting will be held at the end of July in Brazil followed by one hosted by China at the end of October.