Sources in the government said the two concurred that the strong line of arguments drawn by the PM at the recently concluded meeting of Brazil, South Africa and India and not the 'flexibility mantra' would remain the benchmark for talks between the environment ministers of the three countries and China at the BASIC meeting starting on Monday in Beijing.
Over the past few months, India has reverted to its original positions on climate change, after two years of playing the flexibility note at climate talks. The joint statement of the heads of states of South Africa, Brazil and India had clearly brought out that the principles of equity and differentiated responsibilities had been brought back to the table.
With the government increasingly feeling that the two years of flexibility at climate talks had not yielded any returns as a quid pro quo from the developed world, India has over the past few rounds of formal UN talks refused to accept a change in goal posts yet again.
With one of the BASIC countries, South Africa, playing host to the year's big meeting at Durban starting in November-end, the four countries want a successful outcome and yet do not wish to give up more at the talks than they already have with little returns. Read the full report here.
Source: Nitin Sethi, TNN, New Delhi.
