Japanese FM to Urge U.S. to Ratify Kyoto ProtocolJapanese Foreign Minister Makiko Tanaka said Thursday she will urge the United States to return to the framework of an international pact on curbing global warming when she meets U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell in Washington next Monday, Kyodo News reported."I will urge the U.S. to take part constructively. I will convey the message as part of Japan's autonomous diplomatic activities," Tanaka told a session of the House of Representatives Security Committee. "But I think it would be a difficult task, considering U.S. President (George W.) Bush's statement," Tanaka said, referring to Bush's remarks earlier this week reiterating his opposition to the Kyoto Protocol. The protocol, adopted at a U.N. conference in Kyoto, western Japan, in 1997, requires industrialized countries to impose binding limits on emissions of greenhouse gases, such as carbon dioxide. The U.S., which is the world's biggest greenhouse gas emitter, would be required to cut emissions by 7 percent under the protocol. Tanaka is scheduled to leave Japan on Saturday for a four-day visit to the U.S. The Japanese foreign minister is expected to meet Powell on Monday morning in Washington, ahead of the June 30 summit between Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi and Bush at Camp David, Maryland. |
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