By Arun Kumar, IANS,
Washington : President George W. Bush has reiterated that a new international regime on climate change is not going to work without fast-growing countries like India and China at the table.
His address Wednesday seeking a post-Kyoto regime that encompasses every major economy “and gives none a free ride”, Bush said “was in clear recognition that unless countries like China and India are at the table, any agreement is not going to work”.
“It was a far-reaching speech that talked about our commitment to deal with the issue in such a way that we can develop technologies without wrecking our economy,” he said at a joint White House press conference Thursday with British Prime Minister Gordon Brown.
Bush said he had assured Brown “we will work hard to make sure we can reach an international consensus that will be effective” by the time the Group of Eight (G8) advanced nation hold a summit on climate in Japan in July.
His fresh comments came as ministers from 16 economies that together account for 80 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions began a two-day “Major Economies Meeting” in Paris, the third in a series launched by Bush last September.
The president said he and Brown agreed that the Doha Rounds of world trade talks ought to proceed “and believe we can make good progress toward that end”.
“The worst signal we could send during this global uncertainty is that the world is going to become more protectionist and less willing to open up markets,” he said.
Brown said they agreed in “our determination that in advance of the July G8 meeting in Japan, where all the major economies will meet together, we will do everything in our power to ensure economic stability and growth”. They also agreed to work internationally to secure progress at the G8 and towards a post-Kyoto deal on climate change.
The objective of the new initiative among major economies is to come up with a common approach that will contribute to the negotiations under the UN Framework Convention of global climate once the current commitment period of the Kyoto Protocol expires in 2012.
They needed to be vigilant in maintaining the proactive approach to monetary and fiscal policy to enable their economies to resume their paths of upward growth, Brown said, asking “all our international partners to do the same”.
To ensure greater confidence in the financial system, all countries should ensure the immediate implementation of the plans for transparency and disclosure and risk management agreed by their finance ministers at the World Bank-IMF spring meetings here last week, he said.
He and Bush had agreed to work “for an early world trade deal that will give new confidence to the international economy at this time”.
An enhanced dialogue between oil consumers and oil producers, with rising output from the oil-producing countries, should help stabilise and then cut the price of oil, now at over $110 a barrel, he said.
Brown said they also wanted to work with the World Bank and agricultural producers to enhance food supply, tackle food shortages, and increase agricultural production.
Both Britain and America are taking action to help the housing market for homeowners and those who want to buy their homes for the first time, he said.