Climate change: India determined to be part of the solution, says PM

Washington, Nov.24 (ANI): Accepting that India was a latecomer to industrialization and has contributed very little to the accumulation of greenhouse gas emissions that cause global warming, the Prime Minister, Dr. Manmohan Singh, said New Delhi is determined to be part of the solution on the climate change front.

"We are determined to be part of the solution to the problem. We are willing to work towards any solution that does not compromise the right of developing countries to develop and lift their populations out of poverty," Dr. Singh told a gathering at the Council of Foreign Relations here.

He acknowledged that the climate change negotiations heading towards the Copenhagen summit next month were proving more difficult than India would have liked.

"There is disagreement among industrialised countries and between industrialised and developing countries. It is important for all countries to make every effort to contribute to a successful outcome at Copenhagen," Dr. Singh said.

"We recognize that we have to act on climate change in our own interest, since we are among the countries most impacted by climate change. It is for this reason that we have adopted an ambitious National Action Plan on Climate Change. We are committed to ambitious and time-bound outcomes that will increase the energy efficiency of our economy, the share of clean energy including nuclear power in our energy mix, and our forest cover," he added.

He said that all of this would require considerable resources.

"We have undertaken to do what we can with our own resources. We will do more if there is global support in terms of financial resources and technology transfer," he said.(ANI)