 The President of the Republic of Slovenia, Dr Danilo Türk, attended the Summit on Climate Change, organised by the Secretary-General of the United Nations, Ban Ki-moon.
The summit aims to draw the attention of world leaders to the need for urgent action to reach agreement on combating climate change at the UN climate conference to be held in December in Copenhagen. In the past weeks, President Danilo Türk has spoken several times with Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon about the United Nations’ activities to mobilise the political will necessary for a successful outcome of the negotiations. The New York summit has also been convened for this purpose. |
 On his arrival in New York, Dr Türk met the Prime Minister of Australia, Kevin Rudd. At the meeting, which was proposed by Mr Rudd, the two leaders discussed bilateral issues and preparations for the Copenhagen climate conference. Dr Türk and Mr Rudd also attended a special preparatory meeting and working dinner with the UN Secretary-General, hosted by the Prime Minister of Sweden, Fredrik Reinfeldt. The dinner was attended by 16 heads of state and government, who the next day chaired round-table discussions, on which the work of the New York summit was based. |
 On the second day of his visit to New York, Dr Türk attended the opening of the summit and round-table discussions 2 and 8, the latter of which he also co-chaired with the Prime Minister of the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago, Patrick Manning. The summit round-table discussions were held under the title of "Transformation of our economies to enable climate-resilient, sustainable, low-emissions growth for this and future generations".
In the round-table discussions, Dr Türk highlighted the importance of national programmes to mitigate the effects of global warming and adapt to the situation caused by it. He cautioned that these policies should be comprehensive and that they constituted a basis for setting up a system of international obligations with regard to reducing greenhouse gas emissions, and the international mechanism for co-operation on climate change. |
 In a statement to the media, Dr Türk said that Slovenia was an EU Member State with a well-defined programme, objectives and mechanisms to be included in any agreement on climate change. He reminded participants that the European Union has even proposed a financial mechanism to help developing countries. In his words, it is now the turn of several major global actors to take decisive steps.
Dr Türk recalled the words of the Prime Minister of Japan, Yukio Hatoyama, who has made assurances that an ambitious objective to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 25% will be met by 2020, and highlighted the address by China's President, Hu Jintao, who outlined the Chinese national programme to reduce emissions, and the positive address by President Barack Obama of the United States. Dr Türk noted that these addresses showed that a number of major actors have put emphasis on the development of their national policies, but that, at present, not all of them are yet ready to accept international obligations. In President Türk's view, the run-up to the Copenhagen climate conference will therefore be a very strenuous time. |
 Quantitative greenhouse gas emission reduction targets are precisely defined and known, he continued. Now the focus should be on national programmes and measures, and this also applies to Slovenia. Although Slovenia does not have the major tasks ahead of it that some major countries do, it nevertheless needs a more integrated and comprehensive environmental programme covering all relevant aspects – energy, transport, agriculture, spatial planning and the tax system, said Dr Türk. Expanding on this, he highlighted the importance of national programmes, since they make it possible to ensure that international obligations are finally accepted. |