By IRNA,
New Delhi : BASIC nations — India, Brazil, South Africa and China — Sunday said they would stick to the January 31 deadline and communicate information on voluntary mitigation actions to the UN climate change panel.
The announcement was made after a seven-hour meeting of the Environment ministers from the four countries, popular as the BASIC bloc, in New Delhi this evening.
A joint statement issued after the second meeting of Ministers of the four BASIC Group said: “The Ministers expressed their intention to communicate information on their voluntary mitigation actions to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change by January 31, 2010”.
The ministers also asserted that the Copenhagen Accord will not become a legal document and its conclusions would be incorporated in the two-track negotiation process on climate talks.
The Ministers also emphasised that BASIC is not just a forum for negotiation coordination, but also a forum for cooperative actions on mitigation and adaptation including exchange of information and collaboration in matters relating to climate science and climate-related technologies.
The Ministers expressed their desire to enhance South-South cooperation with other countries on various issues including those relating to scientific cooperation and support for adaptation to vulnerable countries.
Earlier Dr. Manmohan Singh met with the four Ministers yesterday evening. The current G-77 Chair – Yemen – had also been invited but could not attend because of other commitments.