Berlin - The major developing countries are being drawn into
climate-control policies under a process initiated under the German
presidency of the Group of Eight (G8) last year, officials said in
Berlin Thursday ahead of the G8 summit in Japan next week.

The Heiligendamm Process, under which G8 members meet regularly
with the five-strong Outreach Group - Brazil, China, India, Mexico and
South Africa - had shown progress over the past year, German government
sources said.

Noting that the United States had declined to ratify the 1997 Kyoto
Protocol on greenhouse gas emissions precisely because major developing
countries, particularly China and India, were freed from its
obligations, they said these countries were now being drawn into global
climate-change initiatives.

The Outreach Five, together with Australia, Indonesia and Korea,
are to join G8 members in a meeting on climate change next week at the
Toyako summit on the northern Japanese island of Hokkaido, which starts
Monday.

The German government officials, speaking on condition of
anonymity, indicated the final declaration would refer to a "common but
differentiated responsibility" in this regard.

Chancellor Angela Merkel put climate change at the top of the G8 agenda under last year's German presidency.

At the Heiligendamm Summit in June last year, she pushed a
reluctant US President George W Bush finally to acknowledge the
scientific arguments underpinning the climate change debate.

The Outreach Five group was established at the British G8 summit at
Gleneagles in 2005, its members meeting irregularly with G8 members.
The Heiligendamm Process put these meetings on a more regular and
formal footing. (dpa)