Brussels, 20/06/2007 (Agence Europe) - On 24-26 June, the president of the European Commission will visit Greenland at the invitation of the Danish prime minister, Anders Fogh Rasmussen, and the Greenland prime minister, Hans Enoksen. This trip will provide an opportunity for the Commission president to see the devastating effects of climate change at first hand in the Ilulissat region, known for its glaciers, and which is also on the UNESCO world cultural heritage list. This region is a clear testimony to the phenomenon of global warming, which can be seen here occurring more rapidly than elsewhere. Greenland is therefore a “”living laboratory” for environmental and climate change research specialists.
Meetings on the day after the G8 summit in Heiligendamm, will mainly focus on the need to step up the fight against climate change beyond 2012, in the perspective of international negotiations on a new post-Kyoto global framework which will begin next December in Bali and be concluded in Copenhagen in 2009.
Barroso, Rasmussen and Enoksen will also discuss relations between the EU and Greenland, which are linked through a partnership and fisheries agreement. (an)