ROME (Reuters) - The leaders of the Group of 20 major economies have reached an agreement on the wording of the final communique which will be released at the end of their two-day summit, a G20 official told Reuters on Sunday. Further details were not immediately available. Diplomats have been negotiating hard-to-bridge differences on how to tackle global warming, with phasing out of fossil fuel subsidies, ending coal power and a firm date for achieving net zero carbon emissions among the main sticking points, sources said earlier on Sunday. (Reporting by Jan Strupczewski and Gavin Jones, editing by Crispian Balmer)
By Angelo Amante ROME (Reuters) - Leaders of the Group of 20 major economies made important progress towards tackling the growing threat of global warming, Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi said on Sunday, hailing the two-day summit a success. Draghi, acting president of the G20, told reporters that for the first time all member states had agreed on the importance of capping global warming at the 1.5 degrees Celsius level that scientists say is vital to avoid disaster. He said the aim, as laid out in the final communique, to achieve net zero carbon emissions by around the middle of the century also marked a breakthrough by comparison with previous G20 commitments. We made sure that our dreams are not only alive but they are progressing, Draghi said in a closing news conference, brushing aside criticism from climate activists that the G20 had not gone nearly far enough in trying to resolve the crisis. G20 leaders have made substantial commitments . It is easy to suggest difficult thin
By Andrea Shalal ROME (Reuters) - World Bank President David Malpass on Saturday called on leaders of the Group of 20 rich nations to speed up work on debt restructuring for low-income countries, including a freeze on debt payments and mandatory participation of private creditors. Malpass told G20 leaders meeting in Rome that progress on dealing with the debt of the poorest countries has stalled and urgent efforts are needed to jumpstart the process. G20 leaders pledged to step up their efforts to implement the Common Framework on Debt Treatments and stressed the importance of private-sector participation, but failed to include any language on a new debt standstill, according to the text of their communique, which was seen by Reuters. Several countries including China - the world s biggest creditor, accounting for 65% of official bilateral debt - have opposed a new freeze in debt service payments. Malpass, who this month called for adding a freeze in debt-service payments to the Common
BUCHAREST (Reuters) - A minority government lineup put forward by Romania s centrist Prime Minister-designate Nicolae Ciuca will face a parliamentary vote of confidence next week, which he is widely expected to lose, further prolonging a month-long political stalemate. Romania has been in political paralysis since a Liberal-led government was toppled by parliament on Oct. 5, threatening economic recovery and efforts to cut big budget and external shortfalls at a time of rising COVID-19 infections. Parliamentary committees decided on Saturday to hold the confidence vote on Wednesday, with parliamentary hearings of cabinet ministers due the day before. Retired army general Ciuca, 54, a Liberal serving as defence minister in the current caretaker government led by Florin Citu, has drafted a cabinet lineup made of his party and ethnic Hungarian UDMR ministers, which jointly control 163 parliament seats, 71 seats short of a majority. Analysts expect Ciuca to face a tough task convincing the
ROME (Reuters) -United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres warned on Friday that the world was rushing headlong towards climate disaster, and said leaders of the Group of 20 wealthy nations must do more to help poorer countries. Speaking on the eve of a summit of G20 leaders, Guterres told reporters there were dangerous levels of mistrust between nations and said he hoped the forthcoming two-day meeting would help overcome that. Guterres urged the G20 to funnel more funds to impoverished countries, including via debt relief, and boost their access to COVID-19 vaccinations. He added that the economic recovery from the pandemic was amplifying inequalities. This is immoral, he said. He also called on rich economies to make good on a longstanding commitment to provide $100 billion a year to help the developing world tackle the growing threat posed by climate change. Unfortunately, the message to developing countries is essentially this, the cheque is in the mail. On all our climate