The 53-nation Commonwealth has given Sarkozy the rare opportunity to address the event
By Marc Burleigh (AFP) – 3 hours ago
PORT OF SPAIN — UN chief Ban Ki-moon and French President Nicolas Sarkozy are to fire early shots in a global climate debate to start in earnest next month by dominating a Commonwealth summit opening in Trinidad on Friday.
The 53-nation Commonwealth has given the two leaders, both non-members, the rare opportunity to address the event out of a determination to influence the December 7-18 climate talks to take place in Copenhagen.
Britain's Queen Elizabeth II, the titular head of the Commonwealth, was to officially open the three-day summit before the leaders hear from Ban, Sarkozy and another non-member, Danish Prime Minister Lars Loekke Rasmussen.
PORT OF SPAIN — UN chief Ban Ki-moon and French President Nicolas Sarkozy are to fire early shots in a global climate debate to start in earnest next month by dominating a Commonwealth summit opening in Trinidad on Friday.
The 53-nation Commonwealth has given the two leaders, both non-members, the rare opportunity to address the event out of a determination to influence the December 7-18 climate talks to take place in Copenhagen.
Britain's Queen Elizabeth II, the titular head of the Commonwealth, was to officially open the three-day summit before the leaders hear from Ban, Sarkozy and another non-member, Danish Prime Minister Lars Loekke Rasmussen.
Their presence underlined an important quality of the Commonwealth: its diversity.
The organization represents two billion people -- a third of the planet's population -- and acts as a sort of microcosm for the different positions between developed and developing countries to be presented at Copenhagen.Facts: The Commonwealth
Politically and industrially hefty countries such as Britain, India, Australia, South Africa and Canada have seats alongside states such as Vanuatu, Tuvalu and Lesotho, whose points of view are often ignored on the international stage -- but which are directly threatened by rising sea levels and other global warming phenomena.
The Commonwealth "allows the world's small countries to have their voice heard," a spokesman for the body, Eduardo del Buey, told AFP.Related article: Commonwealth seeks makeover
The summit's host, Trinidad and Tobago Prime Minister Patrick Manning said on Thursday that Ban, Sarkozy and Rasmussen had been invited when "there was some concern about the way negotiations were going ahead of Copenhagen next month."
He acknowledged there had also been a suggestion of inviting US President Barack Obama but that went nowhere.
Just a few weeks ago, the Copenhagen meeting was described as all but doomed because of a perceived inability to reach a deal under which developed and big developing countries would commit to big cuts in greenhouse gas emissions.
But this week, Obama announced he would be going to Copenhagen with an offer to curb US emissions by 17 percent by 2020, and China spoke, somewhat confusingly, of using 40- to 45-percent less carbon per unit of gross domestic product.
China and the United States are the world's two biggest emitters of greenhouse gases, so the statements were seen as significant, even if questions remained over how effective they would be.
Sarkozy hailed their moves late Thursday in northern Brazil, where he met with Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva and senior representatives from other South American countries that span the vast Amazon river basin for other preparatory climate talks.
"The latest statements by Barack Obama and China's leaders are extremely encouraging in making Copenhagen a success," said Sarkozy.
Sarkozy and Lula have made a pact to present a common position in Copenhagen, one based on getting wealthier countries to pay developing ones to preserve their environment and make up for economic disadvantage caused by cutting greenhouse gases.
Brazil has also pledged "voluntary" carbon output cuts of 36 to 39 percent by 2020.
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