Environment ministers from Japan, China and South Korea yesterday expressed concern at a US decision to reject the Kyoto Protocol on global warming and they urged the US to support it.
"The ministers sincerely hope that the US government will actively work with all the parties to attain such a successful outcome," they said. The US signed the Kyoto Protocol but it has not been ratified by the US Senate. President Bush last month said he could not support an agreement that harmed the US economy.
The 1997 treaty aims to reduce major industrialised nations' greenhouse gas emissions by an average of 5.2 per cent below 1990 levels by 2012.
The three ministers met in Tokyo for two days of regular talks on environmental issues.
"The fact that we included in the communique a call on the United States is significant. It will be a strong message to the international community and we would like to send it to the United States," Japan's Environment Minister, Mr Yoriko Kawaguchi, said.
The South Korean minister, Mr Kim Myung-ja, said Washington should work to ratify the protocol so as not to waste all the effort put into it. The Chinese minister, Mr Xie Zhenhua, said the US should be aware the treaty was "in the common interest of mankind".