India wards off US-China pressure to ratify Paris deal in 2016

From K J M Varma Beijing, Sep 3 (PTI) A cautious India today said it haswarded off pressure from the US and China to set this year asthe deadline to ratify the Paris Agreement, even as the twocountries ratified the climate deal ahead of the G20 summithere tomorrow. India besides several other countries felt that they cannot ratify the Paris Agreement due to various legalimpediments, the Vice Chairman of NITI (National Institutionfor Transforming India) Aayog, Aravind Panagariya said here. UN Secretary General has earlier suggested that the Parisclimate deal be ratified this year so that it could beimplemented. "There is no deadline to my mind but we will makesubmissions of progress," said Panagariya, summing the feelingof India and many other countries in this regard. The joint statement to be released at the end of the G20summit on September 5 will take into consideration thedifficulties in this regard, he said. "My stand is we could not commit for 2016," Panagariya,India’s official representative at the G20 summit, said. His comments came as China and US in a bid to put pressureon other countries ratified the deal today and handed overtheir countries’ instruments of joining the Paris Agreementseparately to the UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon. Chinese President Xi Jinping said that climate changeconcerns the well-being and future of humanity. The Paris Agreement has charted the course for post-2020global cooperation against climate change, and it indicatesthat a cooperative, win-win, equitable and fair climate governance mechanism is being shaped. Depositing the documents together, China and the US havedisplayed their ambition and determination to jointly tackle aglobal challenge, Xi said. Developed countries should honour their commitments andprovide financial and technological support to developingcountries and enhance their capability in climate actions, Xiadded. Panagariya said besides the climate change, the draftjoint statement also refers to refugees, terrorism and anti-microbial resistance. The two day G20 summit to be attended by Prime MinisterNarendra Modi will kick off here tomorrow. G20 members include Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada,China, France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, SouthKorea, Mexico, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Turkey, theUnited Kingdom and the United States and the European Union.PTI KJV SUA SAI AKJSUA