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UN chief lauds Chinese efforts on climate change

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2009-07-30 00:39

UNITED NATIONS: UN Secretary-General Ban Ki- moon said here on Wednesday that he was pleased with what China is doing to contain climate change and what the Asian country will do in negotiations that will lead to an agreement at the Copenhagen summit on climate change in December.

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Ban told his monthly press conference that "I was pleased that (Chinese) President Hu Jintao and Premier Wen Jiabao assured me that China wants to seal a deal in Copenhagen in December and that China will play an active and constructive role in the negotiations to achieve this end."  

During his meeting with the Chinese leaders, "we also agreed on the importance of global leaders showing the way and discussed in detail the Climate Change Summit in New York on Sept 22," Ban said.

"I wanted to highlight the special responsibility of countries like China to lead the global fight against climate change, as well as highlight all that China is doing," he said.  "Come September, we will be entering a crucial stage on climate change."

"Climate change was the major focus of my trip to Asia," he said.  

"In particular, I helped to launch an ambitious program to promote energy saving lighting which could reduce China's energy consumption by 8 percent," he said. "This is a major step into the 21st century."