NEW DELHI -- Prime Minister Narendra Modi will visit Paris on November 30 to take part in the inaugural session of the UN climate change summit along with 80 Heads of States where they will aim to achieve a global climate pact.
French Ambassador to India, Francois Richier in his tweet said Modi, US President Barack Obama and Chinese President Xi Jinping will be among the top leaders who will attend the inaugural session of Conference of Parties (CoP21) which concludes on December 11.
"80 Heads of State &Govt present for #COP21 opening, incl US, China Prez & PM Modi to give final impetus to negotiation, said @LaurentFabius," Richier said while quoting French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius.
>80 Heads of State &Govt present for #COP21 opening, incl US, China Prez & PM Modi to give final impetus to negotiation, said @LaurentFabius
— Ambassador Richier (@FranceinIndia) October 28, 2015
Though there is no official announcement on the Prime Minister's visit, sources said Modi, who will have a hectic overseas itinerary in November with two back-to-back visits covering four countries, will leave for Paris after he returns from his Singapore trip scheduled for November 23-24.
This is probably among the very few occasions when heads of states and governments will attend the inaugural session of a CoP apparently to avoid a Copenhagen summit-like situation when the top leaders, who were present at the concluding session, failed to arrive at a consensus.
India, which recently announced its climate action plans or Intended Nationally Determined Contributions (INDCs) of cutting carbon emissions by up to 35 per cent from the 2005 level, has made it clear that it expected developed nations to come out with more ambitious climate action plans.
Modi himself has talked about "climate justice" and sustainable lifestyle by developed countries to help combat the threat of climate change.
Environment Minister Prakash Javadekar has said that India expects an "equitable and just" climate agreement in Paris and does not want the Paris summit to fail unlike the Copenhagen summit which the minister said people have termed as "flopenhagen".
For the first time in over 20 years of UN negotiations, the Paris conference aims to achieve a legally binding and universal agreement on climate to keep global warming below 2 degrees Celsius.
The Paris conference is expected to attract close to 50,000 participants including 25,000 official delegates from government, intergovernmental organisations, UN agencies, NGOs and civil society.
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