New Delhi: Moving closer on climate issues,
India and China today announced setting up of a Joint Working
Group to exchange views concerning international negotiations
on global warming.
The Joint Working Group (JWG), which will hold meetings
alternately in China and India every year, is also expected to
discuss respective domestic policies and measures and
implementation of related cooperative projects.
The JWG is part of the steps of a Memorandum of Agreement
(MoA) to boost cooperation on climate change issues signed by
Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh and China`s Vice Chairman
of National Development and Reform Commission Xie Zhenhua.
Ramesh said the MoA was first of its kind for both China
and India and the cooperation had fructified within the short
span of less than a month.
Besides the JWG, the MoA also calls for annual meetings
of scientists and economists and joint research and
development programmes in areas of solar and wind energy, coal
technology and forestry.
"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," said Ramesh, who also held a bilateral meeting
with Xie.
"The implementation of the MoA will usher in a new
scenario and take cooperation on climate change between the
two countries to a new high," Xie said through an interpreter.
The agreement will also keep the Indian side informed on
China`s policies on climate change and at the same time help
share best practices to improve the approach to deal with the
issues involved, the Chinese minister said.
Experts from India and China also participated in a
workshop where they shared their respective national action
plans to tackle climate change.
They also discussed domestic initiatives, issues in
multilateral negotiations (mitigation, adaptation, technology
transfer and finance) and outlook for the Copenhagen meeting.
India and China have a similar position that developed
nations need to do more than developing nations to fight
climate change as per Kyoto Protocol because they were
historically responsible for the problem.
China and the US each account for about 20 per cent of
the world`s greenhouse gas pollution from coal, natural gas
and oil. The European Union is responsible for 14 per cent,
followed by Russia and India at five per cent each.
Bureau Report
