Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Monday, August 26, 2002
Earth Summit to Achieve 'Credible' Result: UN Envoy
The coming World Summit on Sustainable Development (WSSD) would achieve "credible" result despite the time-consuming negotiations on the agenda and main objectives, a senior UN official said Sunday in Johannesburg.
The coming World Summit on Sustainable Development (WSSD) would achieve "credible" result despite the time-consuming negotiations on the agenda and main objectives, a senior UN official said Sunday in Johannesburg.
"I expect results...There will be an agreement and a commitment to implement an agreement which is credible," said former Dutch environment minister Jan Pronk, who is a special envoy of United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan.
Pronk said he was "pessimistic after Bali but now I am optimistic."
The preparatory meeting in Bali, which was held in Indonesia in May 2002, only finalized 70 percent of the text, with major areas of disagreements in the remaining 30 percent, he was quoted by the South African Press Association as saying.
However, subsequent informal meetings in Rio de Janeiro, Paris and New York, had helped in "creating a political understanding that can translate into a text," he said.
Mentioning the absence of US President George W. Bush at the summit, Pronk said it was a "bad sign" but this would not necessarily set it back.