Germany sees hard talks with US on climate change at G8 June summit

Apr 24, 2007, 13:35 GMT

Berlin - Germany expects tough negotiations with the United States on climate protection at the G8 summit to be held in the northern town of Heiligendamm in early June, a government spokesman said in Berlin Tuesday.

Talks ahead of the summit had not produced satisfactory results thus far, said Bernd Pfaffenbach, a secretary of state in the Economics Ministry tasked with preparing the June 6-8 meeting.

Chancellor Angela Merkel aimed to make climate change a central theme at the summit, being held under the German G8 presidency, Pfaffenbach reiterated.

He indicated government disappointment that the US was not yet prepared to submit to an internationally agreed climate protection regime along the lines of the 1997 Kyoto Protocol, which runs out in 2012.

Pfaffenbach expressed optimism that criticism by non-governmental organizations, which have voiced strident protest at past G8 summits, would be muted this time.

Merkel intended to meet NGO representatives in mid-May, and the NGOs had welcomed the fact that the chancellor intended to place Africa high on the agenda, he said.

G8 members aimed to offer African countries a 'broad political partnership' with the aim of promoting democracy and reducing corruption, Pfaffenbach said.

He stressed that money was not the solution to everything, although the industrialized countries stood by their longstanding commitments, including allocating 0.7 per cent of gross domestic product to development aid by 2012.

African countries needed to improve their governmental structures and to attract more private capital, he said.

Algeria, Egypt, Ghana, Nigeria, Senegal and South Africa have been invited to the conference, as have Brazil, China, India and Mexico.

Anti-globalization organizations are predicting that up to 100,000 demonstrators will march in the nearby city of Rostock, while police estimate the number at half that.

Larger organizations, like Attac and Greenpeace, have committed themselves to peaceful marches, while smaller, more radical, groups have refused to rule out violent protests like that in Genua in 2001.