Marrakesh talks set to reach agreement to make Kyoto pact operational, un official

A U.N. official predicted on Monday that talks beginning next week in Marrakesh (October 29 through November 4), would reach agreement on a set of rules to make the Kyoto pact on global climate change fully operational.

Approval of the rules package would pave the way for governments to ratify the 1997 Kyoto treaty and bring it into force, ultimately leading to reductions in the greenhouse gases blamed for global warming.

Michael Cutajar, the top U.N. climate change official, said that with the rules nearly in place, the anti-global warming pact would hopefully be ratified in time for next September's World Summit on Sustainable Development in Johannesburg.

"There is a lot of work to be done. I am not complacent, but I am optimistic that there will be a good result. The political will to bring this phase to conclusion is there," Cutajar told a news conference.

After he voiced gratefulness for Morocco which is hosting the conference in the present international juncture, he predicted that enough countries would ratify the pact to put it in force despite President Bush's move earlier this year to drop out of the Kyoto accord.

Countries accounting for 55% of the 30-odd wealthy industrial nations' carbon dioxide emissions must ratify the treaty for it to take effect. Ratification obliges them to meet specific targets for cutting the emissions blamed for global warming from their 1990 levels.

Since the United States, which accounts for some 36% of carbon dioxide emissions among developed nations, has already rejected the deal, virtually all the other big polluters, including European Union states, Russia, Japan and Canada, must ratify for the pact to take effect.

He also predicted that Russia, another question mark, would ratify following tough negotiations in Marrakesh.