The first day of the UN General Assembly's annual debate concluded Tuesday as world leaders appealed for concerted international efforts into climate change and development.
More than 20 world leaders took the podium Tuesday in a marathon debate that lasted nearly 11 hours to voice their views on a wide range of matters of international importance. But for many of them, leaders from developing countries in particular, climate change and development issues are the dominant topics.
Ghanaian President John Agyekum Kufuor urged rich countries to honor their commitments to helping poor nations deal with the challenges of development and climate change.
Many African countries may miss the targets set for the Millennium Development Goals by 2015 if the "unfavorable terms" of trade against exports from developing countries persists and rich nations fail to honor their pledges including substantial increases of Official Development Assistance to developing countries, Kufuor said.
He urged rich nations to consider the demands and interests of developing countries during the Doha Round, and to agree to remove agricultural subsidies and dismantle tariff barriers.
It must be considered "an obligation for the developed countries to honor their commitments to help deal with climate and coastal hazards in the world's vulnerable regions" like sub-Saharan Africa, the Least Developed Countries and the Small Island Developing States, Kufuor said.
South African President Thabo Mbeki struck a note of urgency in global efforts to find a new climate regime under the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).
"It is clear that delaying action on this matter of climate change will hit poor countries and communities hardest. Yet the pace of climate change negotiations is out step with the urgency indicated by science," he said.
"Developed countries clearly have an obligation to take the lead, and we all have a common duty to do more and act within our respective capabilities and in accordance with our national circumstances," he added.
"There is an urgent need for massive resource transfers through development assistance, investment, trade, technology transfers and human resource development to these poor countries if we are to achieve the development goals and successfully adapt to the devastating impacts of climate change," he stressed.
A balance between sustainable development and climate imperatives will have to be the basis of any agreement on a strengthened climate regime, Mbeki said, adding all countries should be given "fair chance in the development space."
Portugal's Prime Minister Jose Socrates, whose country holds the current European Union (EU) presidency, said the EU will seek an "ambitious consensus" on a new climate regime at the UN Climate Change Conference to be held in Bali, Indonesia, in December.
Socrates said that the response to the challenges of climate change must be "global and collective."
Describing the results of Monday's UN High-level Event on Climate Change as "encouraging," Socrates said the initiative will add momentum to the formulation of a global comprehensive post-2012 agreement on the climate regime.
"We should agree to begin negotiations on such a regime at the Bali climate conference in December. The EU will make every effort there to obtain an ambitious consensus," Socrates said.
Chilean President Michelle Bachelet urged the international community to reach a new global consensus on ways to tackle the challenges of climate change.
"All of us have the obligation to construct a new global-political consensus to generate collective action capable of solving the problem in accordance with the principle of common but differentiated responsibility and within the framework of the UN," said Bachelet.
She called on developed countries to contribute to the global effort to combat climate change by promising technical and financial aid to developing countries.
Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev talked about the link between terrorism and poverty, calling for assistance from developed countries to poor nations.
"It is a well-established fact that terrorism finds fertile ground in unstable and poor countries," Nazarbayev said. "Poor countries need the assistance of developed nations. They need the assistance that would give tangible results."
Qatar's Emir Sheikh Hamad Bin Khalifa al-Thani expressed concern over last year's decline of official development assistance, urging donor countries to provide more international aid to poor nations.
"Donors should therefore make additional efforts to double the assistance offered to sub-Saharan countries, and to advance the development agenda of the United Nations," the Qatar emir said.
Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono expressed optimism that a global consensus would be reached on tackling climate change.
"I count myself as an optimist who see today a larger window of opportunity to strike a global consensus to tackle global warming, " Susilo said.
Susilo stressed the principle of "common and differentiated responsibilities and respective capabilities," urging developed countries to help the developing ones in addressing climate change.
More than 190 speakers, including more than 70 heads of state and nearly 30 heads of government, are expected to deliver speeches during this year's general debate, which is scheduled to continue until Oct. 3.
The opening of the assembly's general debate follows high-level meetings in recent days on climate change, the Darfur conflict, Iraq, Afghanistan and the situation in the Middle East.
Source: Xinhua
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