Climate talks in disarray; PM meets Wen

No headway was made in climate talks with the US and China refusing to budge from their positions on emission cuts as negotiators struggled on Friday to strike a face-saving deal to tackle global warming.

Indications of an impasse in the talks came from Swedish Environment Minister Andreas Carlgren who said no agreed text had emerged ahead of the meeting of 110 world leaders.

"It is now up to the world leaders to decide," he said while blaming China and the US for the deadlock.

Amid the hard negotiations, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh met his Chinese counterpart Wen Jiabao to consolidate the position of developing countries.

During his meeting with Wen, Singh recalled that the two countries have been cooperating at various fora, including the G-20.

"We need to continue the cooperation," said the Prime Minister, who arrived in the Danish capital late last night to take part in the high-level segment UN climate talks.

India and China are the key members of the BASIC bloc-- with others being Brazil and South Africa -- which along with other developing countries have been resisting attempts by the rich nations to set aside the 1997 Kyoto Protocol.

The protocol sets legally binding greenhouse gas emissions reduction targets for industrialised nations. It also has a strong compliance mechanism which penalises the rich nations if they do not meet emission reduction targets agreed upon by them.

US President Barack Obama also arrived in the Danish capital to join world leaders in giving a final push to an ambitious deal. The leaders will consider two documents-- one on long- term cooperation under the framework convention and another on the Kyoto Protocol.

"There will be some political declaration," Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh told reporters.

Amid last-ditch efforts to salvage the climate summit, the Danish government came out with a draft accord that skipped putting more onus on developed countries on emission cuts and mitigation targets but promised $100 billion in finance to developing countries by 2020.

The Association of Small Island States, however, said the $100 billion figure was an old figure and not enough.

The draft, which may undergo several revisions, reflected the key Indian demand that only action involving international finances are open to scrutiny.

Singh, who held hectic parleys with the Indian team after arriving at the Bella Centre accompanied by Foreign Secretary Nirupama Rao and his Special Envoy Shyam Saran, has made it clear that climate change cannot be addressed by perpetuating the poverty of developing countries.

The Danish draft was circulated after marathon negotiations among key players that stretched overnight.

The document also refers to containing the global rise in temperature to 2 degrees Celsius before the greenhouse gases stabilise, in consonance with the Indian position.

Small island states, most vulnerable to global warming, have demanded that the rise be limited to 1.5 degrees Celsius as compared to pre-industrial times.