The Hindu : Front Page : Trilateral meet on climate change

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Friday, Mar 28, 2008
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Trilateral meet on climate change

Special Correspondent

New Delhi: Senior officials and academics from Russia, India and China will meet here this week in the first-ever ‘Track One and a Half’ interaction between the three countries since the trilateral dialogue process started in 2002.

Hosted by the Indian Council of World Affairs and the Institute of Chinese Studies in Delhi, the three-day seminar on the “evolution of geo-political strategic trends” will discuss climate change, the current international situation and prospects for trilateral economic cooperation.

Inaugurating the seminar on Thursday, N. Ravi, Secretary (East), Ministry of External Affairs, said the meeting was the outcome of the decision taken by the Foreign Ministers of Russia, India and China in 2007 to convene a joint meeting of officials and scholars to examine ways of taking the trilateral process forward in different areas. Between them, the ‘RIC countries’ account for 20 per cent of global land mass and 40 per cent of the world’s population, he said. The trilateral process would help tap the energy already existing in bilateral relations to the advantage of the three, he added. The three countries had to play a leading role in pushing the principle of common but differentiated responsibilities in tackling climate change, and for multipolarity and multilateralism in international affairs.

In her remarks, Patricia Uberoi, honorary director of the ICS, said the involvement of both officials and academics from the three countries would allow the participants to think both “in and out of the box.” She appreciated the fact that the three countries had brought in social issues such as education, public health, climate change and disaster management within the trilateral dialogue, apart from strategic issues.

Among the participants in the seminar are Shyam Saran, special envoy of the Prime Minister on nuclear and climate change issues, and several senior officials from the Foreign Ministries of Russia, India and China.

First mooted in the late 1990s, the trilateral process began as a largely academic venture but has now evolved into a series of standalone annual meetings at the Foreign Minister level. A summit level meeting was held in 2006 and a business forum has also been established.

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