LONDON, July 5 (Xinhua) -- British Prime Minister
Gordon Brown on Saturday called on Britain's Group of Eight (G8) partners to
boost their anti-climate change efforts for the sake of their economies.
"The world is suffering a triple challenge: of higher
fuel prices, higher food prices and a credit crunch," said Brown in an interview
with British newspaper the Guardian.
"My message to the G8 will be that instead of
sidelining climate change and the development agenda, the present economic
crisis means that instead of relaxing our efforts we have got to accelerate
them."
"This agenda is not just the key to the environment
and reducing poverty, but the key to our economic future as well," he said.
He made the call prior to the annual G8 Summit
scheduled for July 7-9 in Japan's Hokkaido amid fears that the G8 countries are
likely to backpedal on their pledges to cut carbon emissions and increase aid to
poor countries after most G8 members have witnessed a sharp slowdown in their
economic growth in the past year and the skyrocketing oil price hike at the
international market in recent months.
Brown said the upcoming summit, the first since he
took the premiership in July last year, will be judged on whether it rolls back
protectionism, supports projects for cleaner energy and comes up with blueprints
for reducing global oil and food prices.
He said he will consider it a success if the G8
countries show their unity, give strong backing to a new global free-trade deal
and push ahead on climate change and development.
The G8, which evolved from the Group of Seven,
consists of the world's eight leading industrialized powers -- Britain, Canada,
France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Russia and the United States.
TOKYO, July 5 (Xinhua) -- The upcoming Group of Eight (G8) summit can hardly achieve a breakthrough on tackling climate change due to different national interests and thinking styles between developed and developing countries and among developed countries themselves.
This is the view held by Ryo Fujikura, a professor at Human Environment Department of Hosei University during an interview with Xinhua on the eve of G8 summit to be held on July 7 to 9 in northern Japan's Hokkaido Prefecture. Climate Change is believed one of the most important topics dominating the summit. Full story
TOKYO, July 3 (Xinhua) -- Climate change and African development are the two key topics at the Group of Eight (G8) summit scheduled for July 7-9 at the Lake Toya (Toyako) resort area in Hokkaido, northern Japan, said Tomohiko Taniguchi, deputy press secretary of the Japanese Foreign Ministry on Wednesday.
"The issue of climate change is high on the agenda of the G8 summit because global warming is a grave problem that confronts the whole human race," Taniguchi said in an exclusive interview with Xinhua. Full story
