India hosts LMDC meeting on climate change

India on Monday hosted a meeting of Like-Minded Developing Countries (LMDCs) on climate change to prepare strategies for negotiation for the Paris conference slated to be held later this year.

"The objective of this meeting is for negotiators from LMDCs to exchange, coordinate and harmonize views on the (ADP) negotiating text under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) negotiations and to prepare strategies and way forward for the negotiations in the run-up to Paris," an official statement said here.

The Ad Hoc Working Group on the Durban Platform for Enhanced Action (ADP) was established to develop a protocol with legal force which is to be adopted at the 21st session of the Conference of the Parties (CoP-21).

The meeting is significant, as it comes at a crucial juncture in the negotiations, given the limited time available before the CoP-21 in Paris, the statement said.

Environment Minister Prakash Javadekar welcomed the delegates at the inaugural session of the two-day meeting of LMDCs here, noting they represent more than 50 percent of the world's population.

Around 26 foreign delegates from 12 countries, including Argentina, Bolivia, Cuba, China, Ecuador, El Salvador, Malaysia, Iran, Nicaragua, Saudi Arabia, Vietnam, Venezuela, including representatives from South Centre and Third World Network, participated on the first day of the meeting.