Sarkozy makes Copenhagen appeal

French President Nicolas Sarkozy said that India must attend the climate change talks at Copenhagen and after lunching with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh at the Commonwealth summit in Trinidad, he was confident he will be there.

Speaking to reporters in Port of Spain, President Sarkozy said that for India to be heard "India must be there."

Dr Singh had told him that India "would never stand in the way of an answer."

India is a crucial player in the Copenhagen talks which will decide what replaces the 2008 to 2012 Kyoto protocol to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. It is the last big player yet to reveal its hand.

President Sarkozy also indirectly appealed for President Barack Obama and President Hu of China to return to Copenhagen at the end of the two week talks - not just the beginning on December 9 and appealed to all leaders to attend.

It was imperative that leaders be there when decisions would be taken on what he called a new world environment organization to monitor the the commitments of each country.

If decisions were not taken in Copenhagen it would be "a historic failure," he said. There were about seven or eight decisions to be taken and "either we take all the decisions or we take none."

India had everything to gain from being at Copenhagen. It would not have to make the choice between protecting the environment and economic growth.

It would be eligible for access to an annual fund of $10 US billion of public money that he and UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown were proposing be available to help developing countries deal with climate change.

And 20 per cent of that fund should be earmarked to prevent deforestation, he said.

Referring to the recent declarations by the United States and China on the targets for emissions reductions they would be taking to Copenhagen President Sarkozy said: "Things are shifting further and faster than any of us would have imagined."

President Sarkozy called in to Trindad on his way back from a climate change meeting in Brazil with Amazon countries.

United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon and Danish Prime Minister Lars Rasmussen who will chair the Copenhagen talks have met with leaders as well.