Barroso warns against climate change

The financial crisis should not keep aside the fight against climate change. This was the message of the president of the European commission Jose Manuel barroso before the Asia-Europe summit in Beijing.

• “the financial crisis is not, and should not be a reason to delay our commitment to fight climate change”, he said.
• Barroso was addressing some 40 Asian and European leaders in the summit. He pointed out that the threat of climate change does not disappear just because there is a financial crisis.
• He explained to reporters: even though the financial crisis was the overwhelming issue in the Asian-European summit, the member countries adopted the “Beijing statement on sustainable development”.
• Climate change has been dealt with in this statement which commits the member countries to provide financial resources to face up with the phenomenon.
• There is a need for a common vision and long term cooperation to reach the goal of reducing green house effect, he added.