China and Denmark on Wednesday called on global efforts to tackle the challenges posed by climate change.

The two sides expected an agreement on the issue could be reached at the Conference of Parties (COP15) of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) in Copenhagen next year.

In a meeting with visiting Danish Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen, Chinese President Hu Jintao said China supported the UNFCCC's 15th Conference of Parties (COP15) in the Danish capital and hoped the conference could yield in agreement an arrangement to strengthen the international cooperation to tackle climate change along the Bali Road Map after 2012.

The Bonn-based UNFCCC is an international environmental treaty produced at the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED), informally known as the Earth Summit. The treaty aims at reducing greenhouse gas emissions to combat global warming.

Since the UNFCCC Conference of Parties (COP) was held for the first time in Berlin, the parties have been meeting annually to assess progress in dealing with climate change.

The 2007 UN climate change conference in Bali, which brought together representatives of over 180 countries, together with observers from intergovernmental and nongovernmental organizations, and the media, was tasked with launching negotiations on a new climate change regime after 2012 when the current phase of the 1997 Kyoto Protocol expired. The negotiators also agreed to take serious action to cut emissions of carbon, the main contributor to climate change, with industrialized nations promising to take the lead.

China has adopted positive measures in an aim to resolve this issue, Hu stressed, noting China would continue to contribute efforts in a responsible manner to promote sustainable development and deal with the issue.

Rasmussen said Denmark also wished to see COP15 participants reach consensus over the global arrangement to tackle climate change at the Copenhagen conference, expressing the country's appreciation for China's positive contributions to combating the issue.

The two sides also exchanged views on the ongoing international financial crisis.

On the bilateral relations, Hu said China valued its relations with Denmark and appreciated the country's long-term adherence to the one-China policy.

The relation between China and Denmark were facing an important opportunity of development, he said, expressing his hope the two could handle the bilateral relations in a long-term and strategic perspective, promote the high-level exchange, expand the bilateral cooperation in various fields and step up the communication and coordination on various international issues.

Rasmussen said Denmark and China shared a tradition of friendly exchange and expected to forge a comprehensive and strategic partnership with the country in effort to further the bilateral cooperation in fields such as energy resources and environmental protection as well as to promote the Asia-Europe cooperation.

Denmark highly valued China's important role on the international political and economic issues, Rasmussen added.

Rasmussen arrived in China at the invitation of Premier Wen Jiabao. He will attend the Seventh Asia-Europe Meeting (ASEM7) on October 24-25.

(Xinhua News Agency October 23, 2008)