Japan and the European Union remained at odds Monday after separate discussions among negotiating blocs of mostly industrialized countries on a compromise plan that would lead to ratifying the Kyoto Protocol next month.
Representatives from Japan, the EU and other countries are here for an informal ministerial conference on global warming from Tuesday to Thursday to prepare for the sixth Conference of Parties of the U.N. Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP6), aimed at finalizing the operational rules of the Kyoto Protocol.
A new proposal for the global warming talks was drafted by Dutch Environment Minister Jan Pronk, who chaired last year's collapsed talks here and who will chair the resumed COP6 session from July 16 to July 27 in Bonn, Germany.
In order for the Kyoto Protocol to be swiftly ratified, agreements on the operational rules must be reached during the resumed session, along with treaty ratification by the EU and Japan.