http://www.inewsone.com/2011/03/23/cancun-stance-guided-by-need-to-protect-economic-growth-jairam/37530

Environment and Forests Minister Jairam Ramesh Tuesday said that India’s stance at the Cancun conference on climate change was guided by the need to protect its economic growth and inclusive development.

Making a suo motu statement in the Rajya Sabha on the developments that took place at the Climate Change Conference at Cancun last December, Ramesh said the decisions at the meet have ensured that the multilateral dialogue process at the global level does not get sidestepped.
‘As a result of our active role, the deadlock on several issues could be broken and the parties could take a step forward,’ he said.
He said the world community looks up to India as a constructive player in global negotiations.
‘My constant effort has been to ensure that our negotiating stance on climate change is guided by the need to protect our economic growth and inclusive development,’ Jairam Ramesh said.
Referring to a letter written by him to MPs after his return from Cancun, the minister said his effort was to safeguard the country’s position while showing a level of sensitivity to the views of majority countries, including some developing country partners.
Ramesh said he had clarified that a legally binding agreement was not acceptable to India ‘at this stage’ and he has not made any commitment on undertaking absolute emission cuts.
The minister’s statement at the Cancun conference, that all countries must take on a binding commitment under an appropriate legal form, had drawn widespread criticism from the opposition parties.
The minister said he believed that nuancing of the country’s position will expand negotiating options for India and give an all round strength in negotiations.
‘While all developed countries, irrespective of the fact whether they are party to the Kyoto Protocol or not, will report their emission reduction targets internationally and implement them, the developing country parties will list their nationally appropriate mitigation actions internationally in a separate document,’ he said.