India a 'key' player in climate change negotiations: France

New Delhi, Nov 20: France today said India will play a "pivotal" role in the upcoming Paris climate change summit where Prime Minister Narendra Modi and French President François Hollande will jointly launch the International Solar Alliance proposed by India.

French foreign minister Laurent Fabius, who held deliberations with Modi and Environment Minister Prakash Javadekar ahead of the crucial summit, termed India as a "key" player in the climate negotiations and said solutions "cannot" be reached without consensus among important nations like India.

Observing that India will not only engage "pragmatically and with constructive spirit", Fabius said that he believed that India will bring decisive solutions to many issues during the summit apart from "steering" other countries upwards.

"India for many reasons is key player and a close friend. It is important that we could understand what is the approach of India when it comes to summit. The presidency should be impartial and help to find solutions. But the solutions cannot be found without the consensus of country like India," Fabius told reporters during a joint media conference with Javadekar.

Noting that India plays a "pivotal" role in climate negotiations, the French foreign minister said that India and France share a common vision on many subjects and his visit to India was to build on that vision before the Paris summit.

"We need every party to engage pragmatically and with constructive spirit in the final round of formal negotiations. I know that India will do so but also steer many countries upwards.

"I heard many inspiring proposals from Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Prakash Javadekar, notably on international cooperation, infusion of technology and scaling up of capacity building. We believe India will bring decisive solutions on many issues," he said.

Observing that France supports India's plan of the international solar alliance, Fabius said it can set up a "positive momentum" and embody the paradigm shift that India has called for in order to fight climate change.

"We support India's plan to set up an international alliance that will bring an important contribution to ensuring access to low carbon energy. Prime Minister Narendra Modi and French President François Hollande will launch this initiative together at COP21 opening on November 30.

"Such a project which is very ambitious and India is at the forefront. Such a project can set up a positive momentum, showing that ambitious international partnership can be forged on adequate answers to climate change and development challenges," Fabius said.

PTI