New Delhi: US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on Sunday began the Delhi leg of her five-day India visit with a conference on climate change and green technologies - a subject close to her heart and an emerging theme in burgeoning India-US ties.
Dressed in a turquoise blue business suit, a beaming Hillary landed at the ITC Green Building in Gurgaon, a township adjoining Delhi, soon after arrriving in the Capital on a two-day visit that will focus on expanding the scope of strategic dialogue between the two countries.
She was accompanied by US special envoy on climate change Todd Stern, US ambassador-designate to India Tim Roemer and senior US embassy officials.
Minister of State for Environment and Forests Jairam Ramesh took Hillary on a guided tour of the building, which showcases eco-friendly practices in India.
She addressed a closed-door conference on climate change that was attended by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's special envoy on climate change Shyam Saran.
Hillary also discussed climate change - a pressing global concern on which developing and developed countries remain divided - with Saran.
"We, along with other developed countries, have contributed significantly to the problem that we face with climate change," Hillary told reporters in Mumbai Saturday after a meeting with Indian business leaders. "We are hoping that a great country like India will not make the same mistakes."
In Mumbai, Hillary also stressed there is "no inherent contradiction between poverty eradication and moving toward a low-carbon economy".
The issue of climate change will also figure in Hillary's discussions with External Affairs Minister S M Krishna on Monday.
Earlier this month, Manmohan Singh said at the G8 summit in Italy that developed countries must bear "historic responsibility" for industrial emissions of greenhouse gases they have produced.
India contributes four per cent of the world's emissions from burning fossil fuels, compared with 20 percent from the US. New Delhi has opposed any limits on emissions that would slow its growth.
Comments
0 comment