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BOGOR, Indonesia : Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono urged developed nations to take the lead in fighting climate change as he opened international talks on Wednesday on the issue.
Ministers and senior officials from about 40 countries are holding two days of informal talks this week aimed at building a foundation for a major United Nations conference on global warming in December on the resort island of Bali.
"It is only logical that developed countries should continue taking the lead in significantly reducing carbon emissions," Yudhoyono said at the talks in this Indonesian hill town just outside the capital, Jakarta.
"Developed countries are also called upon to provide resources, environmentally-sound technologies and the necessary financial support for developing countries, many of which have scant resources for coping with and adapting to the impact of climate change," he said.
But developing nations should also try to reduce their national greenhouse gas emissions and step up their efforts to do more, he said.
"They would be well advised to formulate and carry out innovative and forward-looking national strategies by way of mitigation and adaptation," he said.
Yudhoyono told the ministers and officials - from nations such as China, India, Malaysia, Sweden, Russia, the United Kingdom and the United States - that he expected they would be creating a basis for decisions to be made at the UN-backed Bali summit during their closed-door talks.
The Bali meeting would then "form the starting point for future concerted global action on climate change," he said.
The 11-day Bali summit, which begins December 3, is tasked with creating a plan for negotiations on a global climate change accord to come into force after the first stage of the UN's Kyoto Protocol ends in 2012. - AFP/de
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