Copenhagen meeting likely to sign agreement, not treaty: Barroso

Visiting European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso said here Monday that the ongoing Copenhagen Conference seems likely to conclude with an agreement rather than a more binding treaty.

"I think there will be no treaty in Copenhagen. Some of our partners are not preparing for it," Barroso told Canal Plus Television.

"What we are trying to get is an agreement. Only after it is put under the pertinent law, the agreement will become a treaty," he added.

Agreements on major issues including carbon emission cap for developed countries and financial contributions to developing countries are expected at the conference, Barroso said.

Barroso also said the Europe Union would set an example for other countries by promising a voluntary reduction of 20 percent from the base year of 1990.

More than 15,000 participants, including delegates from more than 190 countries, gathered in Denmark's capital Copenhagen on Monday for the 15th Conference of the Parties of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).

The meeting is expected to seal a deal on fighting global warming, as a successor to the Kyoto Protocol, which expires in 2012.

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