Emerging countries India, China, Brazil, Mexico and South Africa - the outreach countries of the G8 met in Beijing yesterday ahead of the G8 summit to be held in Japan’s northern island of Hokkaido in July. The outreach countries, also permanent invitees to the G8 are meeting to discuss multilateral trade and climate change issues.  The discussions will be centered around developing a coordinated approach before the annual summit of G-8 leaders in Japan in July.

India’s Foreign secretary and ex Ambassador to China, Shiv Shankar Menon is in Beijing on a three day visit and met Chinese Assistant Minister of Foreign Affairs He Yafei and Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs Wang Yi. Menon’s visit is a precursor to India’s External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee’s visit to Beijing, likely in June, and comes on the heels of the successful relay of the Olympic torch in New Delhi.

During the meetings Menon pitched for the principle of equity in global climate change negotiations and reiterated India’s position of collective but differentiated responsibility between developed and developing countries in reducing greenhouse gas emissions - a point of view that found echo among officials of the four countries, official sources told Thaindian in New Delhi.

In India, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s Special Envoy on climate change Shyam Saran clarified that there is no legal obligation on part of New Delhi under existing international climate change framework to take on binding emissions reduction obligations, now or in the post-2012 period.

The two countries also discussed the lingering boundry issue and jointly issued a statement saying that the issue cannot be resolved “overnight” and that the ongoing bilateral negotiations were not locked in any stalemate.

“I wouldn’t call it a stalemate. We have agreed guiding principles and we are discussing a framework, which will then translate into something specific - this is natural. It is not something that you can do overnight… Both sides are talking. They are dealing with the issue,” Menon told Sify news yesterday.

Menon also said India and China have expressed satisfaction over the steady development of bilateral ties. “Basically, both sides are happy. We went over the details on how we could push (the bilateral relations) forward,” Menon told reporters after his talks with Chinese Assistant Minister of Foreign Affairs He Yafei over working lunch and separately with Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs Wang Yi.

The “outreach countries” are invited when the G-8, an exclusive club of rich nations comprising the US, Britain, France, Germany, Japan, Italy, Canada and Russia, meets.

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