Danish PM for climate change agreement

BANGALORE: Danish Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen on Tuesday called for a comprehensive agreement on climate change between industrialised and developing countries as it could emerge as one of the major challenges of globalisation.

"Climate change,environmental degradation and international terrorism are some of the major challenges of globalisation faced by developed countries which require national, regional and global solutions and India is one of the most climatic vulnerable countries in the world", he said.

Rasmussen was speaking on the topic 'Making the Most of globalisation-Spreading the benefits and Mitigating the Risks' at Indian Institute of Management, Bangalore (IIM-B).

The agreement, he said, will figure in the UN Congress on Climate Change to be held in Copenhagen in December 2009.

"We must strive towards globalisation with a human face. The economic growth must be inclusive and must reach many" he said.

Unfortunately in India, economic growth is bypassing rural areas, the rural-urban divide is widening. India with its excellent human resource and talent pool backed with a democratic set up, must address this.

Continued economic growth combined with free international trade can remove the divide, Rasmussen said.

"Globalisation is only a solution for poverty alleviation, it is not a guarantee. Better distribution of wealth is possible through free international trade", he said.

Industrialised nations must open their markets to developed countries which in turn should open their markets for each other, Rasmussen added.