Current Affairs

US president Barack Obama left for Copenhagen last night to attend the summit on climate change, hoping that the meeting of the key world leaders in the last phase of negotiations would be able to seal the deal.

The president is scheduled to arrive in Copenhagen early Friday morning local time. Obama will attend the morning plenary session of the United Nations Climate Change Conference and is expected to deliver brief address on the issue.

Later in the day, he will hold bilateral meetings with the Chinese premier, Wen Jiabao; and his Brazilian and Russian counterparts, Lula da Silva, and Dmitry Medvedev respectively. He would also attend the afternoon plenary session.

No bilateral meeting has been scheduled with the prime minister, Manmohan Singh, who is also attending the summit. Subject to negotiations, Obama is expected to leave Copenhagen the same night.

US officials said progress was being made on the issue of reporting and verification requirements by China and other developing countries ?" now the sticking point of the negotiation.

In his address to the plenary session, officials said Obama is expected to stress on renewed US commitment to show leadership on global warming. However, he is unlikely to be more specific about providing funding to poor countries on climate change.