France on Saturday hailed the China-U.S. joint presidential statement on climate change signed during Chinese President Xi Jinping's state visit to the United States, according to a French foreign ministry statement.[Special coverage]
The statement quoted French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius as saying that two months before the COP21 UN climate conference in Paris, the China-U.S. joint statement "sends a strong signal about the commitment" of both countries to fight against climate change.
Fabius welcomes particularly the attention paid by the China-U.S. joint statement to countries developing and making available the mid-century strategies for the transition to low-carbon economies, according to the French foreign ministry.
The French minister also described China's plan to launch a national emissions trading system in 2017 and the U.S. steps to further regulation of emissions in energy and transport sectors as "concrete accelerating actions."
According to the top French diplomat, promoting investment in low carbon technologies and solutions facilitates climate policies.
"This (China-U.S. joint) announcement will contribute to mobilizing all the concerning parties for achieving the success of the Paris climate conference," he concluded.
