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Medvedev laments 'modest results' of UN climate conference

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The UN climate conference in Copenhagen has produced little tangible results, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev said on Saturday.

The UN climate conference in Copenhagen has produced little tangible results, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev said on Saturday.

Speaking at an informal meeting with his counterparts from post-Soviet states, he said: "There are results, but they are rather modest."

"A last-minute statement was adopted, reflecting the views of different countries on how to work further to improve the environmental situation on the planet and prevent adverse impacts on the climate."

The leaders of Russia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Armenia, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Turkmenistan met in a place near Almaty to discuss security and economic integration.

The climate summit in Copenhagen adopted a final document. Russian delegation member Oleg Shamanov noted difficulties in agreeing the text during plenary sessions on Friday, saying that a number of countries had accused the group drawing up the document as doing so "secretly" without their participation. He said group was created openly and that all members at the summit could participate.

Alexei Kokorin, a representative from the World Wildlife Fund of Russia, said four countries in particular were obstructing the acceptance of the document: Nicaragua, Bolivia, Cuba and Venezuela. He said the countries were accusing other countries of not considering their opinions while preparing the political declaration.

According to Kokorin, the obstruction by the four countries was not entirely related to the conference's issues on climate and ecology, but more of a desire "to annoy the U.S.," in particular U.S. President Barack Obama, who was an active participant in creating the political declaration for the summit.

The 15th UN climate change conference December 7-18 was the result of two years of international talks on a binding treaty to cut global carbon emissions. The talks brought together about 15,000 participants from 192 countries.

Scientists have warned that the emissions cuts so far offered at the summit would fail to prevent a catastrophic rise in temperatures.

The Kyoto Protocol, a legally binding agreement restricting carbon emissions, expires in 2012. A new deal is needed to continue efforts beyond 2012.

The United States did not sign the original Kyoto Protocol.

AK-BULAK HOTEL (Almaty region) December 19 (RIA Novosti)

 

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