German delegation confident
At the end of the first week of negotiations the head of the German delegation Dr. Karsten Sach gave a cautiously positive half time summary of the negotiations. He stressed in particular that the deliberations had taken place in a constructive spirit and that he entered the coming week with confidence. Wednesday will be the start of the high level negotiations of the just under 190 states. Federal Environment Minister Sigmar Gabriel will then head the German delegation.
"The first week was characterised by constructive negotiations" Dr. Sach noted. The signing of the Kyoto Protocol by Australia immediately prior to the Bali summit had given the negotiations a boost. The necessity to take joint action to protect the climate was obviously an internationally recognised fact. He went on to say that the German delegation saw the position of China as a positive sign. For the first time the country had acknowledged a need to hold negotiations on additional Chinese commitments. At the same time China had, however, called for stronger technology transfer by industrialised countries.
Dr. Sach was confident that it would be possible to achieve the objective of the Bali summit, namely to obtain a mandate for negotiations on a post-Kyoto climate agreement. The target is an adoption of the new agreement in 2009 so that it can enter into force in 2013 when the first phase of the Kyoto Protocol expires. The European Union aims to conclude an ambitious follow-up agreement setting as a distinct target a limitation of emissions in industrialised countries to levels of 25 to 40 per cent of the international baseline year 1990 by 2020.