Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh told the climate summit on Friday the Kyoto Protocol should continue to stand.

He delivered three points when talking about the future negotiation of climate change.

Firstly, the vast majority of countries do not support any renegotiation or dilution of the principles and provisions of the UNFCCC, in particular the principle of equity and equitable burden sharing.

Second, the Kyoto Protocol should continue to stand as a valid legal instrument. Parties to the Protocol should deliver on their solemn commitments under the Protocol. It would go against international public opinion if was replaced by a new and weaker set of commitment.

Finally, it was clear that any agreement on climate change should respect the need for development and growth in developing countries. Any new regime would have moral authority and credibility only if it acknowledged that every citizen of the globe had an equal entitlement to the global atmospheric space.

He said that, although there was a difficult task ahead, "I hope we will all play a positive and constructive role so that we can bridge differences and come up with a balanced and also an equitable outcome during the coming year."

(Xinhua News Agency December 19, 2009)