FED: Wong unsure of success at Copenhagen

AAP General News (Australia)
12-18-2009
FED: Wong unsure of success at Copenhagen

SYDNEY, Dec 18 AAP - Climate Change Minister Penny Wong has cast doubt that frantic
last minute negotiations will achieve agreement at the UN Climate Change Summit in Copenhagen.

She said world leaders met till 2am on Friday (Danish time) before handing negotiations
on to their representatives who met from 3am until 8am. World leaders have since resumed
meeting.

"You'd have to say that things are pretty tough," she told ABC Television on Friday
night, just ahead of the final day of the summit.

"There's a lot of work still going on but you'd have to say there's a very real possibility
that we will not reach agreement.

"We are short of time and there still remains many disagreements between nations."

Senator Wong said the negotiations were stuck on the same issues - the nature of the
agreement, the transparency that's associated with developing country actions and the
need to ensure that developing country actions are put into an international agreement.

"Unfortunately we're still having difficulty getting movement from either side on those issues."

The US threw its weight behind a plan for rich countries to find $US100 billion ($A112.78
billion) a year by 2020 to help poor countries tackle climate change. Money has been a
major stumbling block at the talks.

Senator Wong said that announcement had not led to the hoped for breakthrough.

"That has not - to date - been enough to shift some of the issues in the negotiations," she said.

But she said negotiators had not given up.

"There are a lot of people working very hard to try in these last few hours to broker agreement."

Leaders from more than 130 countries are in Copenhagen.

Leaders are expected to decide on a "Copenhagen Agreement" on Friday afternoon but
talks could go through the night.

AAP jlw/mn

KEYWORD: SUMMIT WONG

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