INDIA URGES DEVELOPED COUNTRIES TO FULFIL COMMITMENTS IN MULTILATERAL
AGREEMENTS. SHRI BAALU ATTENDS
PREPCOM
FOR WSSD AT BALI.
Shri T.R. Baalu, Minister of
Environment and Forests, is participating in the fourth meeting
of the preparatory committee for World Summit on Sustainable Development
(WSSD) at the ministerial level in Bali, Indonesia. The Bali meeting
is significant as it is the last preparatory meeting and the only
one at the ministerial level, before the WSSD in Johannesburg
later this year.
Shri Baalu attended the ministerial meeting of
Group of 77 and China, yesterday, of which India is a prominent
member. In his remarks, Shri Baalu mentioned that during the negotiations
developing countries must not compromise on the fundamentals of
Agenda 21. They must negotiate from a position of strength by
virtue of being home to two-third of the humanity and also being
the potential markets of tomorrow.
In his address to the ministerial meeting, Shri
Baalu clearly stated the position of developing countries in respect
to implementation of Agenda 21. He said that Agenda 21, which
was agreed ten years ago in Rio de Janeiro, is a non-negotiable
document and all nations have to fulfil their commitments under
it. While developing countries are doing their best within their
limited capacities to achieve sustainable development, international
community had failed to fulfil its obligations. The developed
countries, despite their obligations have neither provided financial
resources, nor technologies as agreed in Agenda 21. They have
not even fulfilled their commitments in other multilateral agreements.
On the other hand, they were trying to bring in new issues and
dilute the agreed provisions in order to avoid fulfillment of
their commitments. He also stated that in our zeal to find market
based solutions to all problems we should not ignore the cultural
and traditional aspects of the use of natural resources. Poverty
was the greatest challenge and all action must conform to the
objective of poverty eradication. Shri Baalu also exhorted the
developed countries for trying to make good governance at national
levels as a condition prerequisite for fulfillment of their commitments.
He said, good governance can only be considered in its complete
context which also includes governance at international levels.
Developing countries cannot accept prescriptions from developed
countries when the latter had themselves not taken measures to
fulfil their commitments.
Later, the minister held bilateral discussions with
the Environment Ministers, Mr. Xie Zhenhua of China, Mr. Jose
Carlos Carvallho of Brazil, Mr. M. Tsikanov of Russia and Mr.
Osiki of Japan. They discussed a wide range of issues encompassing
development and environment. On the state of present negotiations,
Shri Baalu expressed his mixed reaction. While there was a broad
agreement on many implementation issues, there was a divide on
the issue of means of implementation. The Chinese and Brazilian
ministers agreed with Shri Baalu whereas the Japanese ministers
expressed the hope that all sides will negotiate with flexibility
to achieve a satisfactory outcome at Bali. The ministers also
discussed their position on the question of ratification of the
Kyoto Protocol under the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change.
Shri Baalu informed that the question was under the consideration
of the Government of India and it was expected to ratify the protocol
soon. It may be noted that India will take over the Chairmanship
of the convention in October, 2002 when New Delhi will host the
eighth meeting of the Conference of Parties to the convention.
Brazil showed its immediate intention of ratifying the protocol
whereas Japan has already ratified. Others also showed positive
inclination. Shri Baalu urged the leaders from China and Russia
to take immediate measures to ratify the protocol so that it could
receive requisite number of ratifications to come into force.
It may be recalled that Shri Baalu has already requested major
countries to ratify the protocol before the October meeting.
