Brussels, 16/04/2008 (Agence Europe) - Stavros Dimas, European Commissioner for the Environment, is to take part in the meeting of the environment ministers of the countries which emit the largest quantities of greenhouse gases, on 17 and 18 April. The ministers are invited to Paris to continue informal dialogue on climate change, in a round launched by the United States in September 2007. This dialogue, which was initially seen as a rival initiative to climate negotiations carried out under the aegis of the UN, is now on the list of regular meetings working towards the conclusion of an international agreement on a global post-2012 regime, to be decided on in Copenhagen in December 2009, in line with the Bali roadmap.
The following countries will be represented: the United States, the European Union (the United Kingdom, Germany, France, Italy and the European Commission), Russia, Canada, Australia, Japan, plus South Africa, Brazil, China, India, Indonesia, South Korea and Mexico. (A.N.)