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RI to attend Washington meeting next month
US President Barack Obama has invited the leaders of 17 major economies, including Indonesia, to attend a new international forum on climate change in Washington in late April
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US President Barack Obama has invited the leaders of 17 major economies, including Indonesia, to attend a new international forum on climate change in Washington in late April.
Indonesia will be the only Southeast Asian country attending the forum, alongside other emerging economies such as China, India, Mexico and Brazil.
Presidential spokesman Dino Patti Djalal said his office had received the invitation but President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono would not be attending. Instead, State Minister for the Environment Rachmat Witoelar will be sent to Washington.
“Yes, we were invited and we will send a representative to the meeting,” Dino told The Jakarta Post on Sunday.
The Major Economics Forum on Energy and Climate, due to be held on April 27-28, is expected to speed up the development of a key UN accord to replace the Kyoto Protocol, which expires in 2012.
“The Major Economies Forum will facilitate a candid dialogue among key developed and developing countries, help generate the political leadership necessary to achieve a successful outcome at the UN climate change negotiations,” the White House said in a statement quoted by AFP.
It also reported that President Obama hoped the new forum would complement talks taking place at the UN Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen in December, which aim to produce a new UN accord.
Other countries on the invitation list are Australia, Canada, the European Union nations of France, Germany, Italy and the United Kingdom, Japan, Russia, South Africa and South Korea.
Denmark, which is hosting a UN climate meeting in December, and UN chief Ban Ki-moon were also invited to the Washington talks.
The preparatory sessions will conclude with a summit to be hosted in July by Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi in La Maddalena.
Dino said Yudhoyono would unlikely be able to attend the Italian summit either because of his hectic domestic schedule ahead of the July 8 presidential election, in which he will contest for a second term.
Rachmat Witoelar told the Post that Indonesia would fight for the adoption of the Bali road map toward climate change with an “Indonesian perspective”. Under this strategy, developed countries share the responsibility of reducing greenhouse gas emissions by helping developing countries cut emissions. Indonesia will also propose a “low carbon development strategy”.
The United States, the world’s largest emitter of greenhouse gases, refused to ratify the Kyoto Treaty, arguing the economic risks were too great.
