PM to attend Copenhagen Summit

Will leave for Denmark on December 17

Two days after India announced voluntary and non-binding commitment to reduce its carbon intensity, officials confirmed on Saturday that Prime Minister Manmohan Singh would travel to Copenhagen to attend the UN climate change summit.

The PM’s attendance at the Copenhagen Summit, dubbed as the most crucial world meet ever on climate change, would lend credence to India’s voice on the issue.

According to sources, the Prime Minister will leave for Denmark on December 17 and will reach Copenhagen to attend the leaders’ conference on December 18, the final day of the 11-day summit.

With India being a major player in global politics, the PM was under a lot of pressure from the international community to mark his presence at the summit, especially after Obama and Chinese PM Wen Jiabao decided to attend the climate talks.

At the recently held Commonwealth Heads of Government Meet (CHOGM) at Trinidad and Tobago, French President Nicolas Sarkozy had also urged Singh to attend the Copenhagen Summit, saying he was sure India would prove to be a deal maker and not a deal breaker.

Interestingly, the PM’s change of mind came after he made a hard hitting statement while speaking at the CHOGM meet. Singh had slammed calls for legally-binding substantive outcome at the Copenhagen climate change meet, saying India was willing to sign on to an ambitious global target for emission reduction or limiting temperature increase, if it is accompanied by an equitable burden-sharing paradigm.