Ramesh to visit Copenhagen

With the Copenhagen summit less than a month away, Minister of State for Environment and Forests Jairam Ramesh is flying to Copenhagen for pre-Conferences of the Parties (COP), talks similar to those in Barcelona and Bangkok.

He is expected to sign a Danish bilateral deal and visit a waste treatment facility there, according to sources close to the development.

In the week gone by, he met French Senior Minister Jean-Louis Borloo, who is Minister for Ecology, Energy and Sustainable Development and Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd, besides meeting Steven Chu, US’ Secretary of Energy today.

The meeting with Chu lasted for about an hour and the two ministers discussed the initiatives taken by their respective companies regarding climate change.

“These are political and formal visits and besides exchanging pleasantries, the two discussed policies and broader understanding of mutual positions, common grounds between developed countries but nothing on negotiations. There were also some talks about technology and collaboration,” said an official.

The momentum for climate change talks is being built and in the coming week, Ramesh will travel across the country, including Hyderabad and Trivandrum.

The minister’s two-day visit (Thursday-Friday) to Varanasi to take stock of the Ganga and discuss ways to save the holy river from pollution, was cancelled at the last moment as he was required in the capital by the Prime Minister.