18 December,2009 08:56 AM IST | | Rahul Bose
I have been hearing Gordon Brown and Hillary Clinton's speeches in Copenhagen. Brown specifically mentioned that the sum of $100 billion should be made available to the developing countries and Clinton also said that it should be made available by 2020. Both statements are very welcome. If some miracle happens, these statements can make the political agreement click before the whole thing concludes tomorrow.
Now that the intent seems to be there and the amount has been mentioned, what it should be used for and where it should go is what the developed world needs to decide. The US and UK should work hard in prevailing upon the developed world to follow through with the intent and come together and deliver after these initial positive statements that they have made together.
There will be many more statements and speeches madeu00a0 apart from these, but the final outcome will only be clear tomorrow. There has been speculation on whether Barack Obama will come to the conference. Most people are saying that he might come. But, for some, the presence of Hillary Clinton and the fact that she is making statements on behalf of the United States seems to indicate that the US President might not come.
If Obama does not make it to Copenhagen, it will surely anger and infuriate the people here and, more so, the developing world, as it would signal a lack of intent. But I still think it is too early to jump the gun, we should wait and see whether he arrives in Copenhagen or not.
Yesterday, the day ended inconclusively, as, from the statements being made at the high-level discussions at the Bella centre, the biggest news was the visible friction between the Danish Prime Minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen and the Minister for Environment Connie Hedegaard. There is broad consensus that Hedegaard was a lot more available, interested and pro the interests of the developing world throughout the conference. Most people seem to think that the present chair Rasmussen will be a lot less interested in seeking consensus from the developing world and would even giveu00a0 less time to hear them out compared to Hedegaard.
The eyes and ears of the world media are trained on Copenhagen and it looks like about 118-120 state heads will be here tomorrow. This will certainly put pressure on the world leaders to come out of the conference looking good and having achieved something. The next 24 hours are going to be crucial as the conference is entering its end game. And, as end games invariably go, this one too promises to be dramatic.
