Germany Meets India

Together, Germany and India have urged all nations to actively contribute to negotiations for a comprehensive climate protection treaty that is to succeed the Kyoto Protocol in 2012.

The two countries made the request in a joint statement issued in New Delhi on Tuesday, Oct. 30, following a meeting between Chancellor Angela Merkel and Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.

"India and Germany recognize the urgent need to find effective and practical solutions to address concerns regarding climate change and its implications for humankind," the joint statement said, as reported by the dpa news agency.

"These would include mitigation and adaptation strategies in a manner that supports further economic and social development in particular of developing countries," the statement said.

Merkel urges India to do more

But Merkel, a former environment minister who has made global warming a top priority on her international agenda, also urged India to do more to combat climate change. She said Germany is willing to help New Delhi use energy more efficiently by sharing technology to avoid "mistakes we made in the industrialized countries," she said, according to Reuters.

The Kyoto Protocol, which expires in 2012, requires developed countries to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. A United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) conference is scheduled for December in Indonesia to hash out a new comprehensive agreement.

But emerging economies like China and India, and some of the world's top polluters, oppose tough new regulations. They argue that such measures could strangle economic growth. They also say that industrialized countries, such as the United States, Australia and the EU members, have produced the bulk of greenhouse gas emissions in the past and should bear a larger burden in the climate change fight.

However, India -- one of the fastest-growing economies in the world -- is expected to reveal a national plan to combat global warming by the end of the year. Analysts in India have said the country has already made major inroads regarding energy efficiency.

Nuclear possibilities

Singh also announced at the joint press conference Tuesday, following his meeting with Merkel, that he was still trying to push through a nuclear energy deal with the United States. Singh has said that an agreement would help India meet its burgeoning energy needs.

Merkel welcomed the move and eyed chances for more business should India enter an international network of civil nuclear commerce.

"From the point of view of Germany, we would like to see India incorporated into the international (nuclear safeguards) regime...then Germany and India could do a lot together," she said, according to the AFP news agency.

Until now, Singh's nuclear plan has been blocked by coalition partners.

Merkel's visit to India is aimed at improving economic ties between the two countries. Accompanied by a high-level business delegation, Merkel called for a strategic partnership between New Delhi and Berlin.

Trade between the two countries has already reached 10.5 billion euros ($15 billion).