115 Heads-of-State to attend UN climate-change summit
No commentsOne hundred and fifteen heads of state and government will next week join the historic climate change summit underway in Copenhagen.
The confirmation came yesterday in a press conference by Yvo de Boer, the Executive Secretary of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).
De Boer expressed hope that the leaders would strike a deal next week on major issues such as greenhouse-gas emission cuts by the developed countries and financing for developing countries which are vulnerable to the climate change.
The Queen of Denmark will host a reception for the world leaders on Friday evening, he said.
The head of the Sri Lankan delegation, Environment Minister Patali Champika Ranwaka is expected to make a common statement on behalf of member states of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC).
The SAARC countries represent one fourth of the world population, and the group is currently chaired by Sri Lanka.
De Boer said that there would be bilateral and multilateral negotiations among the leaders during the summit.
Commenting on the financial commitments of the developed countries he noted that the European Union has pledged 2.4 billion euro of immediate financing to meet urgent adaption needs in the developing countries.
This sum is around one-third of a US$10 billion fund recently proposed to kick-start action over the next three years.
However, de Boer stressed the additional need for long term financing to support adaptation to climate change in the developing countries
He added that commitments for developed countries that are party to the Kyoto Protocol to reduce their greenhouse-gas emissions beyond 2012 should also be seriously and urgently negotiated.
UN climate summit President and Danish Climate and Energy Minister Connie Hedegaard invited all ministers and heads of delegations to informal consultations today to seek their views on the status of the negotiations.
