Foreign ministers and officials from 34 East Asian and Latin American countries reaffirmed on Sunday their commitment to "work constructively" in the fight against climate change.
The member states of the Forum for East Asia-Latin America Cooperation also pledged in their "Tokyo Declaration" issued after the two-day meeting to take "wise fiscal policies and prudent financial management policies to build a resilient and viable international economy" as the world recovers from the financial crisis.
Foreign Minister Katsuya Okada emphasized the significance of the agreement on climate change in the first major international conference held since the U.N. climate conference in Copenhagen last month, which produced an outline of a new international framework to deal with global warming.
Okada said the two regions' ministers recognized the need to facilitate trade and investment to accelerate the recovery of the global economy.
"Recognizing that small businesses and the poor have been hit hard by the economic crisis, we confirmed the need to support those vulnerable entities and people," Okada said at the postmeeting news conference.
The declaration said the nations at the meeting recognize that "much work has to be done to strengthen the climate change regime" and "reaffirmed our commitment to work constructively to ensure a successful conclusion" of the next U.N. climate conference to be held in Mexico at the end of this year.