Two days before the G8 summit, German Chancellor Angela Merkel welcomed Monday support from Canada on her efforts to keep talks on combatting climate change under the aegis of the United Nations, according to dpa. She spoke after meeting in Berlin with visiting Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper, who will be one of the eight leaders at the summit starting Wednesday in the German beach resort of Heiligendamm. Harper and Merkel issued a statement saying both sides sought cuts in greenhouse gases by at least half by the year 2050. However, they remain divided on what year to take as a starting point, with the EU favouring 1990 and Canada 2006. Merkel disagreed last week with a call by US President George W Bush for major countries to meet separately on the emissions issue. The chancellor said she and Harper agreed "to a very large extent" and were in accord "that the talks need to take place in a UN framework." Even if main nations talked separately, "the decisive thing is that it all feeds into a UN document," said Merkel, who is chairing the G8 and the European Union and was set to hold more talks on climate Tuesday with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe. EU Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso told reporters Brussels had urged Harper to allow visa-free. short-stay entry for travellers from all the EU nations at the Berlin talks. Harper said Canada had a "process in place" to review its entry rules for Estonians and this issue was "moving in a positive direction."
