Malaysia Criticises APEC Climate Change Agenda
Date: 31-Aug-07
Country: MALAYSIA
Host Australia has written to leaders of the 21-member
Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum to put climate
change at the top of the agenda at the Sept. 8-9 summit in
Sydney.
But fellow APEC member Malaysia said Australia and the
United States lacked credentials to lead discussions on the
subject.
"It is unfortunate that people who are talking about
climate change like America are not even members of the Kyoto
Protocol," Malaysia's outspoken Trade Minister Rafidah Aziz
said.
"If you want to talk about climate change, please join in
with the rest of the global community to make commitments about
managing climate change," she told reporters.
"So there's no point talking outside of the (Kyoto
Protocol) forum," said Rafidah, who is due to attend APEC
ministerial talks on Sept. 6 ahead of the summit.
A visiting US trade official brushed aside Rafidah's
criticism, saying that climate change was key to APEC as the
issue has both political and economic dimensions.
"An issue like climate change...is the kind of thing that
APEC can usefully help address," Deputy US Trade
Representative Karan Bhatia told Reuters. "President Bush's
administration remained focused on pushing forward in that
area."
Australian Prime Minister John Howard said on Monday that
APEC leaders would be asked to back practical ways for their
nations to save energy.
The United States and Australia have refused to ratify the
Kyoto Protocol setting greenhouse emissions targets for
developed countries.
Howard has long been a critic of the pact because it does
not include major developing economies and unfairly punishes
energy-rich countries such as Australia, a major coal exporter.
Rafidah also said Malaysia would back a project to study
the idea of setting up a pan-APEC free-trade pact but said any
decision should not be binding on the member economies.
APEC members account for nearly half of world trade, 40
percent of the world's population and 56 percent of the world's
gross domestic product.
While trade is a major focus for the group, the subject is
often pushed down the agenda during annual summits by more
pressing issues of the day, such as bird flu and the North
Korean nuclear crisis.
