India not under pressure on Kyoto Protocol: Jaswant

STOCKHOLM, APRIL 5. The External Affairs Minister, Mr. Jaswant Singh, has said India is not under pressure from the United States to ``contribute'' to the implementation of the Kyoto Protocol by cutting green house gas emissions that are believed to cause global warming.

The European Union (EU), meanwhile, backed India and other developing countries in countering the Bush administration's criticism against the Kyoto protocol not assigning green house gas emission targets to them.

``We have not yet felt the pressure,'' Mr. Singh said, adding that he would take up the issue of American reservations and its lack of support to the Kyoto Protocol during his meetings with U.S. leaders in Washington tomorrow.

Mr. Singh was addressing a joint news conference along with the Swedish Foreign Minister, Ms. Anna Lindh, at the end of the EU Troika - India Ministerial meeting here on Wednesday evening. He has since left for Washington for talks with the Secretary of State, Mr. Colin Powell, and the Defence Secretary, Mr. Donald Rumsfeld, among others.

Ms. Lindh said the developed countries would have to take the lead in cutting green house gas emissions before asking the third world countries to make commitments on this matter.

``The EU and the U.S. should shoulder the responsibility (to cut green house gas emissions) as a long-term policy before asking to make any commitments,'' she said while chastising the U.S. for making environment issues ``hostage'' to national domestic policies.

Sweden is currently holding the six-month rotating EU presidency and environment issues are on top of its agenda.

The Kyoto Protocol, which is not yet in force, assigns targets to the U.S. and other developed countries for limiting their emissions of carbondioxide and other greenhouse gases.

Mr. Singh said he agreed with Ms. Lindh's views on the dangers to the international community if the Kyoto Protocol fell apart.

During the Indo-EU delegation talks, Ms. Lindh said the two sides agreed on the ``necessity to keep the U.S. in line in not allowing the whole process to be endangered''.

The problems with the Kyoto Protocol were among a host of issues that figured at the troika meeting along with other environmental questions.

The U.N. had also recently come to the defence of India and other developing countries against the U.S. criticism of the Kyoto Protocol.

`India should sign CTBT'

The European Union has asked India to sign and ratify the controversial Nuclear Test Ban Treaty (CTBT), even as New Delhi asserted that it was not a ``proliferationist'' and that its moratorium on further nuclear tests remained in place irrespective of other countries' nuclear policy.

- PTI

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Section  : International
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