Disagreement over eco-protocol

TOKYO, APRIL 8. A disagreement between the U.S. and the European officials derailed efforts today by Environment Ministers from leading industrialised nations and Russia to set a deadline for ratifying a 1997 protocol to fight global warming.

During the first round of talks today in Otsu, a lakeside city in western Japan, representatives only agreed to implement ``as soon as possible'' - the 1997 Kyoto protocol, a key agreement aimed at cutting emissions of carbon dioxide and five other heat-trapping gases.

Japan and Europe have supported a ratification by 2002 at the latest and want to have it included as part of a communique, to be issued at the end of the two-day meeting tomorrow, Nobutoshi Miyoshi, an environmental agency official said. The U.S. did not want to set a specific deadline without approval by Congress, Miyoshi said.

- AP

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Section  : International
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