Japan, Mexico foreign ministers discuss climate change, trade accord+

TOKYO, July 5 Kyodo - Japanese Foreign Minister Katsuya Okada and his Mexican counterpart Patricia Espinosa held talks in Tokyo on Monday on cooperation for the success of the next U.N. climate conference to be held in Mexico, and the review of a bilateral free trade agreement, Japanese officials said.

Okada and Espinosa were set to discuss what would constitute a desirable
outcome for the upcoming climate talks, according to the officials.
The Mexican foreign secretary, who arrived in Japan earlier in the day, also
told a lecture meeting at the United Nations University just before meeting
with Okada that she expects the upcoming climate talks to reach an ''agreement
on a broad and balanced package that serves as a framework for collective
action.''
Espinosa, who will chair the next round of key U.N. climate meetings in Cancun
between late November and early December, said at the university in Tokyo that
talks have been ''on the right path'' as both developed and emerging nations
have committed to actions to mitigate climate change.
''However, the commitments that countries have assumed for the stabilization of
greenhouse gas emissions have not reached at all levels that the science tells
us are required,'' Espinosa said.
''On the basis of equity and common but differentiated responsibilities and
respective capabilities, we must all increase our level of ambitions,'' she
added.
The foreign secretary also said it is critical for developed countries to
implement their commitments to offer aid worth $30 billion to help poor nations
grapple with the impact of climate change to ''build up confidence'' in the
run-up to the Cancun meeting.
Rich nations pledged to offer the so-called ''fast-start financing'' covering a
three-year period through 2012 during the last U.N. climate conference in
Copenhagen in December.
The U.N. negotiations involving 194 countries are aimed at crafting a new
legally binding framework to tackle climate change beyond 2012, as the current
commitment period for developed countries to slash greenhouse gas emissions
under the 1997 Kyoto Protocol will expire that year.
But many climate negotiators have said it is unlikely that an accord on a
legally binding text will be struck at the Cancun talks.
Espinosa told the lecture meeting that countries should ''for the moment
concentrate on the specific actions'' that need to be taken to curb global
warming, while keeping ''an open mind'' on the shape of a future legal
framework to combat climate change.
She recommended putting off the issue of legal architecture in the negotiations
as the matter is a bone of contention between developed countries, which are
seeking a comprehensive framework involving all major emitters, and developing
nations, which favor new emissions-cut obligations in line with the Kyoto
Protocol.
Under the Kyoto pact, only developed countries are required to slash emissions.
With the United States having withdrawn from the treaty, emissions by countries
that are parties to the protocol only account for around 30 percent of the
world's total CO2 emissions.
On the economic front, Japan and Mexico have been reviewing their free trade
agreement, which took effect in April 2005, to further boost bilateral trade
and investment.
The fresh negotiations cover improving market access for Mexican farm products
such as pork, orange juice, beef and poultry.
Espinosa is scheduled to meet with Environment Minister Sakihito Ozawa Tuesday
morning before she leaves Japan, the officials said.
==Kyodo