30 September 2003 11:28
France urges Russia to ratify Kyoto protocol
French President Jacques Chirac on Monday joined calls for Russia to ratify the Kyoto Protocol, saying future relations between the European Union and the Russian Federation depended on it.
Chirac made the plea in a letter to Russian President Vladimir Putin, who backed away on Monday from an earlier pledge to swiftly ratify the U.N. pact on global warming, a step necessary to bring the agreement into force worldwide. Ratifying the pact "would underline Russia's determination to accept all the responsibilities of a large modern country towards future generations," Chirac said.
It would give the partnership between the Russian Federation and the EU "greater legitimacy" in the fields of energy and environmental protection, he added. "I therefore see it as an essential element to the constitution of the common economic area we decided to create in St Petersburg," Chirac said, referring to plans for a common European economic space.
Delegates at the World Climate Change Conference in Moscow said it was too early to talk of the possible death of the 1997 Kyoto protocol despite Russia's long indecision. The protocol seeks to rein in emissions of gases like carbon dioxide from fossil fuels burnt in factories and cars that are blamed for blanketing the planet and driving up temperatures, raising sea levels and causing natural disasters.
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