Xie Zhenhua, deputy director with the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC), will head a Chinese delegation for the G-20 meeting on climate change, said Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Qin Gang in Beijing Tuesday.

Qin told a regular press conference that the Chinese delegation will adopt an active, pragmatic and open manner for the G-20 environment ministers meeting on climate change and environment, to be held in Japan on March 14 to 16.

He said China believed that the international community should enhance cooperation, exchanges and dialogue to find effective countermeasures for climate change, noting that all countries participating in the meeting are expected to have extensive exchanges on climate change.

The international communities have put forward many initiatives on climate change. China supports these initiatives as long as they conform with principles stated in the Kyoto Protocol and UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), especially the "common but differentiated responsibilities" principle, Qin said.

He said to tackle climate change, developed countries should take the lead to reduce emissions after 2012. They should also provide technological and financial assistance to developing countries to increase their capacity for combating climate change.

Developing countries, on the other hand, will take effective measures in accordance with their strategies for sustainable development, Qin added.

Established in 1999, the G-20 is an informal forum that seeks to promote an open and constructive dialogue between industrial nations and emerging-market countries on key issues related to the international monetary and financial system and, in the process, to pursue stability and sustainable growth of the world economy.

(Xinhua News Agency March 12, 2008)