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Japanese PM Expresses Concern over US Retreat from Kyoto Climate Treaty
Japanese Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori expressed concern over the United States' retreat from the Kyoto climate treaty and urged the latter to continue to seek an agreement on that pact, in a letter sent to US President George W. Bush on Friday, Japanese Chief Cabinet Secretary Yasuo Fukuda said.
"The US has expressed its position of not supporting the Kyoto Protocol, and we have strong concerns about the impact such moves will have on negotiations on climate change," Fukuda quoted the letter as saying.
"We hope the US will exert strong leadership over global warming, an important issue for the international community, and also hope that Japan and the US will be able to continue effective cooperation over environmental issues, including the conclusion of the Kyoto Protocol," he added.
Mori urged the US to continue seeking an agreement on the landmark pact in the next round of an environmental meeting set for July in Bonn, Germany, Fukuda noted.
Japanese ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) also plans to send a government delegation to the US to request Washington to return to the framework based on the Kyoto protocol, LDP officials said.
The delegation will consist of representatives from the government and the three ruling parties, the LDP, the New Komeito party and the New Conservative Party, said the officials.
The White House announced Wednesday that Bush does not support the Kyoto Protocol and will not submit the treaty for ratification by the US Senate.
The 1997 Kyoto agreement, signed by the US administration under former president Bill Clinton, commits 38 industrialized nations to cut their greenhouse gas emissions by an average of 5.2 percent by 2012 compared to the levels of 1990.
The US, responsible for about one fourth of global emissions of carbon dioxide, is demanded to cut their emissions by 7 percent by 2012.
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