Obama vows to redouble effort on climate change

"We discussed climate change extensively and all of us agreed that it was imperative for us to redouble our efforts in the weeks between now and the Copenhagen meeting to ensure that we create a framework for progress," Obama told reporters.

The UN conference to fight climate change will be held in Copenhagen from December 7 to 18, pitting emerging economic powerhouses China and India against Western industrial nations in the drive to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

Obama spoke after a White House meeting with European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso, EU Foreign Affairs chief Javier Solana and Swedish Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt, whose country currently holds the EU's collective presidency.

The Europeans sounded optimistic a deal was within reach.

In a declaration issued after the US-EU summit, the leaders said they had agreed "to promote an ambitious and comprehensive international climate change agreement in Copenhagen."

Work toward a new deal ran into obstacles in the US Senate and at UN negotiations that began on Monday in Barcelona, Spain, the last session before Copenhagen.

In Barcelona, African nations staged a daylong boycott of part of the 175-nation UN climate talks to demand far deeper 2020 cuts in greenhouse gas emissions by rich countries.

African nations want the rich to cut by at least 40 percent below 1990 levels by 2020, saying their people are hit the most by disruptions to water and food supplies.

In London, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said a Copenhagen deal in December would be "a very important milestone." But he said it would not be a detailed legal text, reflecting a global scaling back of ambition for the meeting; Kazinform cites China Daily. See www.chinadaily.com.cn for full version.