Int'l community lauds China's climate fund for South-South cooperation

BEIJING, Oct. 15 (Xinhua) -- Officials and experts from some countries and international organizations, especially from developing countries, recently have praised China's announcement to establish a South-South cooperation fund on climate change.

During a visit in the United States in September, China announced that China will set up a 20-billion-yuan (3.1-billion-U.S. dollar) South-South cooperation fund to help other developing countries cope with the effects of climate change.

The officials and experts said that China's move shows its willingness to shoulder international responsibilities, support developing countries in fighting climate change and set up an example for other countries.

Peruvian Environment Minister Manuel Pulgar-Vidal said that developed countries should shoulder their own historical responsibilities, reducing their own emissions while offering necessary fund assistance and technology transfers to developing countries.

The offer of 3.1 billion dollars by China, as an emerging economy, is a concrete pledge of the country to fight global warming, said the minister.

The positive and generous step will benefit those developing countries that are shortage of funds, he said. In Latin America, the Chinese fund will also help countries maintain their economic development and social stability.

Rachel Kyte, the World Bank's special envoy for climate change, said that it is necessary to help every economy move toward a low-carbon direction, support them with funds, especially those least developed countries.

China's generous offer was absolutely a new move, and received very positive echoes, said Kyte, who is also a deputy governor of the bank.

Qian Feng, vice president of Thailand's Asian Daily, said that China, via the establishment of its climate fund, not only fulfills its own responsibilities as a developing country, but also shoulders its responsibilities as a major country in the world and sets an example as a responsible major country.

China's support for developing countries to tackle climate change under the framework of South-South cooperation, not only makes contributions to such cooperation, but also to the whole world, Qian said.

Fatuma Mohamed, a climate change official from Kenya's Ministry of the Environment and Mineral Resources, believed that China's establishment of climate fund will assist developing countries in tackling climate change and has an influence over the world development, while African countries will benefit from it.