The Strategic Council for Foreign Policy conducted on Tuesday a debate on the impact of climate change on international security at which participants agreed that climate change was inseparably linked with international security and becoming an important foreign policy issue.
The session featured Special Representative for Climate Change of the UK Foreign and Commonwealth Office John Ashton, who told the press that the discussion had shown that viewpoints of Slovenia and the UK on climate change and its security dimension were very similar. Foreign Minister Dimitrij Rupel meanwhile assessed that the UK "was very advanced and active in raising the issue of climate change in the framework of foreign and security policies".
Ashton said that the UK had managed to put climate change on the agenda of the UN Security Council in April, and added that Slovenia was the first country to propose a discussion on climate change at the Security Council five years ago.
Climate change is of exceptional importance to the EU, as it has set ambitious objectives in the restructuring of the energy sector and make considerable reductions in greenhouse gas emissions. It is time for the EU to show the world that it has courage and vision for the implementation of these objectives, said Ashton.
The UK is helping Slovenia prepare for its presidency of the EU Council in the first half of 2008, in which climate change will be one of the priorities, said Rupel. Rupel also announced his intention to meet British Foreign Secretary David Miliband, and added that Prime Minister Janez Jansa was expected to visit the UK in November.
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