China will adopt on-the-ground strategies to combat climate change, with financial and technological backing from Norway.

Further strengthening their relationship yesterday, the two countries signed agreements in Beijing, witnessed by Premier Wen Jiabao and Norwegian Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg, on a three-day official visit to China.

Among the three pacts is one targeting the effects of climate change, and will be jointly conducted by Norway, the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) and China.

Details of the agreement were not immediately available, but a statement released by the UNDP said the programs would help Chinese provincial governments assess potential risks caused by climate change and develop ways to respond.

"The presence of the two top leaders shows the strong commitments of both governments to responding to the global challenge of climate change," Khalid Malik, the UNDP representative in China, said.

The $2 million project will be funded by Norway and is expected to be launched by the middle of the year by the National Coordination Committee on Climate Change of the National Development and Reform Commission, the country's top economic planning agency, and the UNDP.

The project will look at ways to cut greenhouse gas emissions in the largest coal-producing Shanxi Province and the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region by improving efficiency in regional industries.

The statement said the programs would also look at ways to help local governments mitigate the effects of glacial melting in the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau.

During one-hour official talks prior to the signing of the pacts, the two leaders agreed to work out a framework agreement on environmental protection to help future co-operation.

Wen said China supported the Kyoto Protocol, although "the protocol gave no stipulations on the reduction of emissions for developing countries".

"The Chinese government will adopt a responsible attitude and seriously fulfill its obligations," Wen said.

China will go along with the international community, including Norway, to intensify international cooperation in combating climate change, improve its energy efficiency, develop clean energy and strive to control greenhouse gas emissions, he said.

Stoltenberg said the environmental problems throughout the globe are partly caused by the industrialization of the developed countries and they have the responsibility to help developing countries reduce emissions.

He said his country was willing to help China reach its goal of emission reduction by increasing investment and sharing its technologies.

The two leaders also agreed to optimize the trade structure between the two sides, encourage more two-way investments and expand cooperation in the field of clean energy, energy saving, fishery and forestry.

They pledged to launch joint feasibility studies on a free trade agreement between China and Norway at the earliest possible date.

Norway is the 69th country in the world to grant China complete market economy status, but China's biggest trade partner the United States, the European Union and Japan have yet to do so.

(China Daily 03/27/2007 page3)