PM meets Sarkozy, Brown on margins of CHOGM

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and the French President Nicolas Sarkozy at the bilateral meeting on the sidelines of CHOGM 2009 in Port of Spain on November 27, 2009.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh met French President Nicolas Sarkozy and British Prime Minister Gordon Brown on the sidelines of the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) 2009 in Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago, on Friday and discussed with them issues such as climate change, the situation in Afghanistan and terrorism.

Briefing journalists after the meetings, Mr Vishnu Prakash, the official spokesperson of the Ministry of External Affairs, said the leaders agreed on the need for the international community to stay the course to stabilise Afghanistan.

They also agreed that more vigorous efforts were required in the region to combat the menace of terrorism. They also felt there should be no double standards in fighting terrorism.

Mr Prakash said the meetings were between friends and between strategic partners. He said Dr Singh had been meeting Mr Sarkozy and Mr Brown regularly bilaterally or on the sidelines of international fora. He had visited France and the United Kingdom earlier this year, he said.

"The meetings were held in a very warm atmosphere, in a very friendly atmosphere, and there was a convergence of views and a convergence of interests," Mr Prakash said.

According to him, the primary focus of the talks was on climate change and Dr Singh stated very clearly and emphatically that India had a major stake in the success of the Copenhagen Summit.

He said India would work towards, and would like to see, a balanced, an ambitious and an equitable outcome of the Summit.

According to him, India is one of the countries which are worst affected by the climate change, and it was in its interest to see a successful outcome of the Copenhagen Summit.

The Prime Minister also told them about the steps already taken by India unilaterally, including the National Action Plan on Climate Change. He spoke in some detail about the efforts being made in the areas of energy conservation and carbon efficiency as well as in renewable sources of energy, particular solar energy.

At the same, he said, it was important that the historic responsibilities of the developed were taken into account. He said there was already an understanding an agreement that there should be common but differentiated responsibilities between the developed and developing countries.

Dr Singh underscored the importance of adequate transfer of resources and of technology to the developing countries because that was the real key to combating climate change.

He said it was adequate transfer of resources and technology which would enable the developing countries to take necessary steps towards mitigation and adaptation, which are required to tackle the challenge of climate change.

Mr Brown expressed sympathy on the first anniversary of the November 26, 2008 terror attacks on Mumbai. Both Dr Singh and Mr Brown said the perpetrators of the attack must be brought to justice.

Mr Brown also said that the recent state visit to the United Kingdom by President Pratibha Patil was very successful and that his country was very happy with its outcome.

The two leaders agreed to pay much greater attention to cooperation in the field of higher education and to focus on faculty development. It was agreed that the British Minister for Higher Education would visit India shortly to discuss the modalities of cooperation in this area with Human Resource Development Kapil Sibal.

They also discussed a fresh initiative that pertained to networking between the youth on both sides. This is aimed at basically reaching out to the next generation to sensitize them and to make them a part of the process of close engagement between the two countries.

Mr Prakash said Dr Singh invited Mr Sarkozy and Ms Carla Bruni Sarkozy to visit India next year.

NNN