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Portugal wants swift response to climate change

By Xinhua

Lisbon : Portugal’s President Anibal Cavaco Silva has called for swift and wide post-Kyoto environment agreements, saying climate change is a serious worldwide menace.

“The planet cannot wait so long for a post-2012 agreement as it did waiting for the Kyoto Protocol,” he told a New Year reception for ambassadors at Lisbon’s Queluz Palace Tuesday.

“Negotiations for a post-2012 accord must be ambitious and swiftly completed,” he said.

In December, representative from 180 nations converged on the Indonesian island of Bali and agreed to hold talks in April to work out a replacement for the Kyoto Protocol, which runs out in 2012. Portugal, which held the rotating presidency of the European Union at that time, played a crucial role in the negotiations at Bali.

In addition, Cavaco called for states to fight poverty and social exclusion, which he said continues to exist even in the most privileged nations.

Terrorism “is one of the most serious consequences of exclusion”, he said, adding that terrorist activities should be tackled not only through judicial means but also by “encouraging conflict resolution, mutual understanding and collaboration between people and nations”.