Xi meets Obama in Paris ahead of major UN climate conference

Chinese President Xi Jinping shakes hands with US President Barack Obama during their meeting at the start of the climate summit in Paris November 30, 2015. [Photo/Xinhua]

PARIS - President Xi Jinping, who is attending the opening session of a major United Nations climate change conference here, met with his US counterpart Barack Obama on Monday.

The two heads of state discussed ways to push forward bilateral ties while pledging concerted effort to make the Paris negotiations a success.

CONCERTED EFFORT ON CLIMATE

During the meeting, Xi told Obama that it is important for the two countries to partner with each other to help the Paris climate conference deliver its expected targets, saying climate change is a huge challenge faced by mankind.

Obama, in his turn, emphasized the importance of China-US efforts to fight climate change.

"Nowhere has our coordination been more necessary or more fruitful than the topic that we're here to discuss during the Paris conference, and that is how the world can come together to arrest the pace of climate change," he said.

As the two largest carbon emitters, Obama said, we have both determined that it is our responsibility to take action, noting that "our leadership on this issue has been vital."

The two presidents are meeting on the sidelines of the 21st Conference of the Parties (COP 21) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).

The highly-anticipated meeting aims to yield a new international agreement to reduce greenhouse gases beyond 2020 when the 1997 Kyoto Protocol expires.

The two leaders agreed the Paris conference provided a vital opportunity to enhance action and tackle the challenge of climate change, vowing to work with each other and other sides to ensure that the conference will achieve an ambitious and successful result.

China and the United States, the largest developing and developed countries in the world, together account for about 40 percent of the global greenhouse gas emission. Cooperation between the two countries to combat climate change has become a highlight in their bilateral relationship in recent years.

When Xi and Obama met last November in Beijing during Obama's state visit to China, they made a surprise joint announcement on climate change, sending a strong signal that the two biggest economies in the world were to join hands to tackle the global challenge.

Two months ago, when Xi paid a state visit to the United States, the two heads of state issued a joint presidential statement on climate change, reaffirming determination to implement domestic climate policies, strengthen bilateral coordination and cooperation, and to promote sustainable development and the transition to green, low-carbon as well as climate resilient economies.

China also pledged a 20-billion-yuan (3-billion-US dollar) fund to help other developing countries combat climate change, according to the statement.

In both documents, the two presidents have made their personal commitment to a successful outcome of the Paris climate change conference.