NEW DELHI, Oct 29 : India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi called on Thursday for a "comprehensive and concrete" agreement on climate change in December, as he addressed African leaders at a major summit in New Delhi.
Modi said no one had contributed less to global warming than India and Africa, warning that "the excess of (the) few cannot become the burden of many".
He was speaking as world leaders prepare to meet in Paris in December to try to reach an agreement on tackling climate change, with the goal of capping warming at two degrees Celsius (3.6 degrees Fahrenheit) over pre-Industrial Revolution levels.
"We are each making enormous efforts with our modest resources to combat climate change," the Indian premier told delegates from all 54 African Union nations gathered in New Delhi.
"So, when the world meets in Paris in December, we look to see a comprehensive and concrete outcome that is based on the well established principles in the UN Convention on Climate Change."
Developing countries insist rich nations should lead the way in slashing climate-altering greenhouse gas emissions, arguing they started polluting earlier, and should bear a heavier duty for fixing the problem.
But industrialised nations balk at being saddled with a higher burden of responsibility.
Modi will meet Thursday with leaders of countries including Angola, Ethiopia and Egypt after holding talks on Wednesday with leaders including Zimbabwe's Robert Mugabe and Muhammadu Buhari of Nigeria, the oil-rich nation key to India's energy interests on the continent. ?AFP