Port of Spain, Nov 29 (IANS) Ahead of the conference on climate change in Copenhagen in December, a team of leaders at the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) here said that a consensus has been reached on the issue.
The document titled, “The Port of Spain Climate Change Consensus: The Commonwealth Climate Change Declaration” was unfolded before the media Saturday at the International Financial Centre here.
The document calls for urgent and substantial action to reduce global emissions of carbon dioxide. It fully endorses a proposal by French President Nicolas Sarkozy and British Prime Minister Gordon Brown for the establishment of a $10 billion climate fund for the small countries to reduce carbon dioxide emissions. From this, Trinidad and Tobago and India, among several other Commonwealth countries, could benefit.
On Friday, President Sarkozy said he had met Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and urged him to attend the Copenhagen meeting.
Among those present at the media briefing here were Trinidad and Tobago’s Prime Minister Patrick Manning, Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd, Denmark’s Prime Minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen, United Nation’s Secretary General Ban ki Moon, and Commonwealth Secretary General Kamalesh Sharma.
Rudd said that the Port of Spain Consensus was “…significant and substantial”.
London, Nov 29 (IANS) British Prime Minister Gordon Brown Sunday attacked the Pakistani leadership in exasperated tones, demanding that it “take out” Al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden and his deputy Ayman Zawahiri.
“The Pakistan government has started to take on the Taliban and to take on Al Qaeda in South Waziristan, but we have got to ask ourselves why, eight years after September 11, nobody has been able to spot or detain or get close to Osama bin Laden, nobody has been able to get close to Zawahiri, the number two of Al Qaeda,” Brown told BBC television.
“We have got to ask the Pakistani security forces, army and politicians to join us in the major effort that the world is committing resources to, not only to isolate Al-Qaeda but to break them in Pakistan,” Brown said after a telephone conversation with Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari Saturday.
“…If we are putting our strategy into place for dealing with building up Afghan forces in Afghanistan so they can control things themselves, then Pakistan has got to be able to show that it can take on Al Qaeda, which is a threat to Pakistan and the Pakistani people as well as to the rest of the world.”
“I believe that after eight years, we should have been able to do more, with all the Pakistani forces working together with the rest of the world, to get to the bottom of where Al Qaeda is operating from.”
He added: “We want, after eight years, to see more progress in taking out these two people at the top of Al Qaeda.”
Brown’s comments came ahead of an expected announcement this week of 500 more troops that would take up the British military presence in Afghanistan to 9,500.
The British presence in Afghanistan has come under growing criticism from domestic politicians, former generals and families of British soldiers as more than 200 British troops have been killed in that country since 2001.
London, Nov 29 (IANS) International forces will begin a lengthy process of withdrawing from Afghanistan by the end of 2010 under a detailed roadmap to be agreed at an international conference here January, according to a report Sunday.
British Prime Minister Gordon Brown has set out detailed “benchmarks” for the process of “Afghanisation” amid growing calls for the withdrawal of British troops, more than 200 of whom have been killed in that country since 2001.
According to Brown’s roadmap reported by The Observer, the process will begin with the Afghan government identifying – within three months – additional troops to send to the troubled Helmand province for training.
The plan, according to the newspaper, also envisages:
– Police training plans within six months.
– The appointment of nearly 400 provincial and district governors within nine months.
– Five thousand additional Afghan troops to be trained by Britain in Helmand and thousands more in other parts of the country within12 months.
– Afghan security forces taking the lead in five out of the country’s 34 provinces by the end of 2010, with control in one or two districts in Helmand also handed over.
The Jan 28 conference in London is expected to be attended by Afghan President Hamid Karzai, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and the foreign ministers of 42 other countries involved in Afghanistan.
It will not set a timetable for withdrawal but Brown indicated that the process of local troops and police assuming control would allow international troops to begin to leave, the paper reported.
Port of Spain, Nov 29 (IANS) A high-level FBI team will be coming to Delhi within a week with new information to unravel the terror plot hatched by David Coleman Headley and Tahawuur Rana and their links to the Mumbai carnage, National Security Adviser M.K. Narayanan said here.
The decision of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) to come to India followed intensive discussions between Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and US President Barack Obama in Washington Tuesday.
“We are seized of the matter. We are ready to do everything to unravel the conspiracy,” Narayanan quoted Obama as telling Manmohan Singh during their talks in which issues relating to Pakistan and the Mumbai carnage figured prominently.
In the course of the discussions, the prime minister had expressed concerns about new hubs of terror coming up, specially in the neighbourhood, Narayanan said.
Referring to the US’ promise of providing vital clues about a prominent Pakistani linked with the Mumbai carnage, Narayanan said he and Home Minister P. Chidambaram will speak to the FBI director on the issue.
An estimated 166 people were killed and 244 injured when 10 Pakistani terrorists sneaked into Mumbai and unleashed mayhem in the city Nov 26-28 last year.
The FBI’s proactive stance on the Headley-Rana probe is an extension of the new counter-terrorism framework pact signed during Manmohan Singh’s visit to Washington.
Now the security relationship between the two countries will be without reservations, official sources said here. If any side gets sensitive information having a bearing on the other, it will quickly pass on the information.
On the eve of Manmohan Singh’s visit to the US a week ago, the US had disclosed to India that their investigation had revealed the link of the terror plot hatched by Headly and Rana to elements in Pakistan’s spy agency ISI. In a week’s time, the US is likely to give India vital clues about a Pakistani connected to the Mumbai carnage, official sources
The CIA chief Leon Panetta disclosed the links of Headley-Rana to elements in the ISI when he met Narayanan in New Delhi Saturday.
Port of Spain, Nov 29 (IANS) India and the US will conclude a crucial pact on reprocessing spent fuel in a week or so, with negotiators trying to sort out the right language to accommodate each other’s concerns, India’s National Security Adviser M.K. Narayanan said here.
“We have arrived at the final stage. It’s all a matter of legalese now,” Narayanan said Saturday when asked why the reprocessing pact could not be signed during the four-day visit of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to Washington that ended Thursday.
“It will take a week or a little more to wrap it up,” Narayanan told Indian reporters at Port-of-Spain, where Manmohan Singh attended the Commonwealth summit after his Washington visit, while adding that the issue figured in discussions between Manmohan Singh and US President Barack Obama.
A day after the talks, Manmohan Singh said that the reprocessing deal will be wrapped up in two weeks.
Informed Sources told IANS that the gap between the two sides has narrowed down to just one issue of suspension of the right to reprocess in case India conducts a nuclear test or indulge in activities that may jeopardise the nuclear deal.
There were three issues that were holding up the reprocessing pact. Out of these, two issues have been resolved. The Americans have accepted India’s proposal for multiple dedicated national facilities for reprocessing spent fuel, sources said.
The second issue related to security of reprocessing facilities. The issue was resolved after India agreed to security levels followed by nuclear powers like the US.
The only issue waiting to be resolved is that of the suspension of the supply of reprocessing technologies in the event of India conducting a nuclear test.
Indian officials have made it clear to their American interlocutors that India was not ready to move away from what is outlined in the 123 civil nuclear cooperation agreement.
After labyrinthine negotiations, the US had agreed to India’s right to reprocess spent fuel. The conclusion of the reprocessing pact will effectively conclude the landmark nuclear deal that was inked by India and the US last year.
A team of senior nuclear officials led by R.B. Grover, head (technical) in the department of atomic energy, held a fourth round of talks with an American team headed by Richard Stratford, the US pointsperson for reprocessing negotiations, on the eve of Manmohan Singh’s talks with Obama in Washington.
Under the 123 bilateral civil nuclear cooperation agreement inked by India and the US last year, the two sides had agreed to conclude an agreement for the finalisation of arrangements and procedures for India to reprocess spent fuel under a dedicated national facility under international safeguards.
The conclusion of the reprocessing pact, a key US commitment under the 123 agreement, will finally set anxieties in India at rest about the commitment of the Obama administration to the nuclear deal, which formed the showpiece of the India-US engagement during the Bush administration.
With the reprocessing deal out of the way, the only step left to operationalise the nuclear deal will be the approval of a civil liability legislation by India that seeks to limit damages to American nuclear companies operating in India from compensation claims in case of nuclear accidents.
The cabinet has cleared the civil liability legislation. Manmohan Singh said Wednesday that the parliament will take up the legislation in its ongoing session.
By Smita Prakash
Port of Spain, Nov.29 (ANI): India’s National Security Adviser M K Narayanan has said that New Delhi has no plans to interrogate either David Coleman Headley, an alleged Lashkar operative based in the United States of Pakistani origin, or his associate, Tahawwur Hussain Rana, in connection with 26/11.
Speaking exclusively to ANI, M K Narayanan, said here that the United States ‘is going to send a high powered team from FBI with details of the Headley-Rana interrogation.’
‘They have exhaustive information and President Obama has instructed the FBI to share everything with us (Indian Government),’ Narayanan added.
He also revealed that the issue of counter-terrorism did come up for discussion during Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s meeting with President Obama.
‘Counter-terrorism did come up for discussions between Obama and the Prime Minister. In particular, about the hubs that are coming up in our neighbourhood. It also came up in the Headley-Rana case,’ the National Security Adviser said.
Narayanan said: ‘The (US) President promptly said `we are seized of the matter, we are willing to fully cooperate with whatever information is available. We will send a high-level team with all the data that is available, and this will be with the Indian authorities in a week’s time’.
‘This sums up what General James Jones said. Headley-Rana, any interrogation agency would love to interrogate people, but we can work around it. The Home Minister (P. Chidambaram) and I will speak to the Director of FBI (Robert S. Mueller III). But, we have already been able to glean a whole lot of information.
Narayanan’s comments came a day after British intelligence agencies said they had tipped off the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) about Headley, days before he was arrested.
A UK daily quoted British agencies as saying that they had collected vital information that identified Headley. Headley, a US citizen living in Chicago, was arrested in October in connection with the November 2008 Mumbai attacks.
Headley was in Pakistan at the time of the attacks and was reportedly working on another terror plan codenamed the ‘Mickey Mouse Project’.
It must be mentioned that five Pakistani military officials were arrested earlier this week for their alleged connection with Headley.
Headley’s associate, Tahawwur Hussain Rana, stayed in a guesthouse in Mumbai close to the Chhatrapati Shivaji railway station, one of the sites targeted during the attacks, till November 21, 2008 before returning to Chicago.
Headley is also said to have visited the Osho Ashram in Pune.
Apart from his visit to the Taj Mahal hotel in 2007, he also visited New Delhi twice in 2007 and 2009 and stayed in a hotel in Paharganj.
He has also been accused of plotting an attack on the culture editor and cartoonist who published cartoons of the prophet Mohammed in one of the leading dailies of Denmark.
When asked for his comments on why India and the United States had not been able to give the final touches to the landmark US-India Civil Nucklear Cooperation deal, especially on the issue of reprocessing during Prime Minister Singh’s visit to Washington this week, Narayanan told ANI: ‘It is likely to conclude in a matter of days. We have agreed to the modalities now just the language, the legalese needs to b worked out. Thanks to intervention of President (Obama), we have arrived at the very last stage. There is only one matter left, its only a matter of legalese.’
Official sources here said that as far as reprocessing is concerned, it is connected with arrangements and procedures of one dedicated facility.
They said that the United States understood that it would be to their advantage to begin with that.
‘Security arrangements with that dedicated facility would be exactly how it is with other dedicated facilities that the US has around the world. We agreed to that,’ they said.
On the issue of counter-terrorism, they said General James Jones had had discussions with the Indian team, and added that he had instructions straight from President Obama to share whatever information Washington has on Headley or Rana.
They also said that all interactions between the Indian and American leaderships were held without reservations. (ANI)
Port of Spain, Nov 29 (ANI): Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh has wound up his visit to Port of Spain in Trinidad and Tobago, where he attended the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM), and left for India.
During the first leg of his visit, Dr. Singh was in Washington where he met US President Barack Obama in Washington. He was the first state guest under the new administration.
Dr Singh held talks with Obama on the entire gamut of bilateral relations, situation in the region and global challenges like terrorism, climate change and economic crisis.
He also met French President Nicholas Sarkozy, British Prime Minister Gordon Brown and his Canadian counterpart Stephen Harper.
Describing his tour as very productive, Dr. Singh said, ‘I am confident that we cannot only continue, but also strengthen the momentum of our relations built up in the last few years.’
In Port of Spain, where he attended a two-day meeting of the Commonwealth leaders, the Prime Minister had pushed for a ‘legally binding substantive outcome’ at the Copenhagen climate change meet next month.
The 53-nation Commonwealth agrees that the upcoming Copenhagen meet should come out with an ambitious mitigation outcome, as there was a need for an ‘urgent and substantial’ action to reduce global emissions. (ANI)
Nevada (US), Nov 29 (ANI): Indo-Americans have applauded US President Barack Obama for honoring India in his first state dinner held at White House in Washington DC (USA) on November 24.
Acclaimed Indo-American statesman Rajan Zed, in a statement in Nevada (USA) today, said that it was a presidential acknowledgement of appreciation of world’s largest democracy.
It showcased the growing ties between two great nations, Zed, who is president of Indo-American Leadership Confederation, added.
Although about 105 Indians or Americans of India descent and their
relatives were on the 338-person guest list, Bollywood was totally rebuffed with not a single name from India’s film industry appearing on this list. On the other hand, many Hollywood names showed up on this list.
Hollywood celebrities which appeared on the guest list included: Oscar winner producer-director Steven Spielberg (Saving Private Ryan), Oscar nominated producer Jeffrey Katzenberg (Shrek) and his wife Marilyn Katzenberg, Oscar nominated filmmaker-screenwriter M. Night Shyamalan (The Sixth Sense) and his wife Bhavna Shyamalan, Oscar nominated actress Alfre Woodard (Cross Creek), Golden Globe nominated actor Blair E. Underwood (In Treatment), MTV nominated actor Kalpen Modi (Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle), producer David Geffen (Interview with the Vampire), actor Jeremy Lingvall (A Thousand Beautiful Things), actress Gayle King (The Manchurian Candidate), talent agent Ari Emanuel (Entourage), studio executive Michael Lynton (Sunday Morning Shootout).
Though Oscar winner A.R. Rahman (Slumdog Millionaire) and his troupe performed at the dinner, but his name did not appear on the guest list.
Presidential state dinners, whose tradition goes back to 1874, are highly esteemed. (ANI)
Port of Spain, Nov.28 (ANI): Describing climate change as a challenge of global dimensions that deserved a global and a collaborative response, Indian Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh on Friday told participants at the CHOGM Summit 2009 that it was unfortunate that global discourse on this issue continued to be enmeshed with arguments about maintaining economic competitiveness or level playing fields.
In an intervention during a special session on the issue of climate change, Dr. Singh warned: ‘Climate change is becoming the pretext for pursuing protectionist policies under a green label. This would be contrary to the UNFCCC and a violation of the WTO as well. India and other developing countries will strongly resist this.’
‘We are only days away from the convening of the 15th Conference of Parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change in Copenhagen. India has repeatedly emphasized the need for the Copenhagen outcome to be comprehensive, balanced and above all, equitable,’ he added.
‘It must be comprehensive in the sense that it must cover all the inter-related components of mitigation, adaptation, finance and technology. This means we should resist a partial outcome. Furthermore, there must be balance and equal priority given to each of
the four components. Mitigation is important, but cannot take precedence over adaptation which, for many countries represented here, poses a greater challenge,’ Dr. Singh said.
He added: ‘And most important from our perspective, is the need to ensure an equitable outcome corresponding to the principle of common but differentiated responsibilities and respective capabilities.’
India, he said, is willing to sign on to an ambitious global target for emissions reductions or limiting temperature increase, ‘but this must be accompanied by an equitable burden sharing paradigm.’
‘We acknowledge the imperative of science but science must not trump equity. Climate Change action based on the perpetuation of poverty will simply not be sustainable,’ he insisted.
Welcoming the participation of Danish Prime Minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen in the CHOGM deliberations, Dr. Singh assured him that the Indian delegation would play a constructive and positive role in supporting his efforts to secure a successful outcome.
He also acknowledged that the presence of French President Nicholas Sarkozy would add quality to the climate change deliberations.
‘We have benefited from his insights and his wisdom and, in particular, his concern over the challenges posed to developing countries by climate change,’ the Prime Minister said.
Singh also acknowledged the key role played by UN Secretary-General Ban ki Moon in raising awareness of the dangers posed by climate change to humanity, saying India agreed with his assessment that the time for action is now.
Singh said: ‘I wish to express India’s complete solidarity with the sentiments expressed by several leaders from small island developing states and our brothers from Africa. They are the least responsible for climate change and yet are the most vulnerable to its impact. Their very survival is at stake. We appreciate their concern because India, too, has extensive island territories and low lying coastal plains, which are vulnerable to sea-level rise ad extreme climatic events.’
Sharing India’s perspective on the forthcoming Conference of Parties in Copenhagen, Singh said that the multilateral negotiations under the UNFCCC were proceeding on two parallel tracks for the past two years.
‘The first track derives its mandate from the Bali Action Plan adopted by consensus in December, 2007. Its mandate for the multilateral negotiations is very clear and unambiguous. We are to work towards an Agreed Outcome at Copenhagen which would represent enhanced implementation of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change. The Bali Action Plan calls for enhanced implementation specifically in respect of mitigation, adaptation, finance and technology,’ he said.
He said it was necessary to enhance implementation in these respects because the provisions of the UNFCCC have barely been implemented and the threat of climate change has become more compelling.
He, therefore, warned that if the outcome at Copenhagen diminishes rather than enhances the implementation of the UNFCCC in respect of the specific components of mitigation, adaptation, finance and technology, it would ‘represent a serious setback, no matter how we seek to characterize this result.’
Commenting on the view given by some quarters that due to the limited amount of time available, the aim for a political outcome rather than a legally binding outcome, Dr. Singh said that India was of the view that ‘We should not pre-empt the Copenhagen negotiating process. Whatever time is still available to us before the High Level Segment meets from December 16, should be used to achieve as much convergence as possible.’
‘If the consensus is that only a political document is feasible then we must make certain that the post-Copenhagen process continues to work on the Bali mandate and the UNFCCC continues to be the international template for global climate action. We must avoid any lowering of sights,’ he added.
As far as the second track in the multilateral negotiations – the Kyoto Protocol track — was concerned, the Prime Minister said the protocol would not expire in 2012 as was being thought in some quarters, rather, 2012 would mark the end of the first commitment period for developed country parties to fulfill their legally binding obligations to reduce their economy-wide emissions by a specific quantified figure.
He said there was a need for developed countries to sign on to more significant obligations in the second commitment period commencing in 2013, as despite the efforts of the developing country parties to the Protocol, no progress has been achieved in fulfilling the mandate of the Working Group on Kyoto Protocol, which has been meeting for the past three years.
‘The attempts by some countries to dispense with the Kyoto Protocol altogether has generated avoidable misgivings and has been strongly resisted by all developing countries without exception. We hope that a legally valid instrument to which we too are parties, will not be set aside in a cavalier manner. This will undermine credibility in any future legally binding instrument,’ Dr. Singh said.
India, he said, has adopted an ambitious National Action Plan on Climate Change with eight National Mission covering both mitigation and adaptation.
‘We have not made their implementation conditional upon obtaining international support. However, we can certainly do more if there is a supportive global regime. Each of the National Missions, including those on renewable energy, enhancing energy efficiency and expanding forest cover, are platforms on which we would be happy to pursue cooperative partnership with sister Commonwealth countries,’ he added.
He said that New Delhi welcomes British Prime Minister Gordon Brown’s recommendation to mobilise at least 100 billion dollars by 2020 for supporting climate change action in developing countries and the priority he has given to the needs of Least Developed Countries and Small Island Developing States. (ANI)
Port-of-Spain, Nov 28 (IANS) French President Nicholas Sarkozy has requested the Indian prime minister to attend the forthcoming climate change summit in Copenhagen and Manmohan Singh has assured him at the ongoing Commonwealth meet at this Trinidad and Tobago capital that he would discuss the proposal with his cabinet colleagues.
Sarkozy told a press conference at the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) press centre that he has encouraged Manmohan Singh to attend the parley, especially during Dec 17-18 when major decisions would have to be taken.
He said Manmohan Singh has told him that when he returns to India, he would discuss the proposal with his cabinet about attending the Copenhagen meeting.
The French president stated that he plans to visit India by March or April 2010 to finalise the transfer of nuclear technology agreements between India and France.
Talking about carbon emissions, Sarkozy said that he has proposed a world governance body to monitor it.
He stressed that he has held discussions with British Prime Minister Gordon Brown about the establishment of a $10 billion fund to assist poor countries in sorting out the problems caused by climate change, and added that India could benefit from this fund.
This fund could come into fruition by 2010 or 2011.
“We want India’s voice to be heard at this international meeting,” Sarkozy said, expressing the hope that the Copenhagen talks would be “productive, intense and progressive”.
He said that at the Copenhagen meeting “decisions would need to be made, and failure is not an option”.
Sarkozy said that he was confident that India would not stand in the way of a successful conference.
He said that the Copenhagen meeting is a historic meeting and he was confident that all the challenges would be surpassed. “If we fail in Copenhagen, all will fail.”
