Leaders of the world's key industrialized nations Thursday clinched a hard-fought compromise on combating climate change, including efforts to halve global greenhouse gas emissions by 2050, according to dpa. The Group of Eight (G8) summit also witnessed an apparent easing of East-West tensions, with Russian President Vladimir Putin offering to share use of a missile radar station in Azerbaijan as an alternative to controversial US plans to deploy elements of a missile shield in Central Europe. Leaders from the US, Canada, Japan, Germany, Britain, France, Italy and Russia were meeting at the Baltic resort of Heiligendamm amid heavy security. Demonstrations by thousands of anti-globalization protestors continued, however, with Greenpeace protesters in inflatable boats barging into a marine exclusion zone near the summit venue. German Chancellor Angela Merkel, who is chairing the G8 meeting which continues Friday, hailed the voluntary deal on fighting climate change as a "great success." "It is a major step forward," Merkel told reporters, adding: "I can very well live with this compromise." She admitted, however, that "none of these documents are binding." French President Nicolas Sarkozy, attending his first G8 summit, described the climate compromise as significant but insisted: "I would prefer a binding target." "One cannot wait...action is necessary," said Sarkozy. US officials said that President George W Bush, who succeeded in avoiding any summit reference to specific targets for slashing greenhouse gas emissions, believed Merkel had done a "remarkable" job in forging a compromise. "It is a consensus document that can represent a way forward on dealing with the climate issue," US National Security Advisor Steve Hadley told reporters. The G8 commitment was "very consistent" with Bush's ideas for cooperating with major polluters on fighting global warming while also reflecting ideas that have been advanced by others, said Hadley. The summit agreed "there needs to be a long-term goal...to substantially reduce emissions," said Hadley. However, setting such a target required the participation of all emitters, including China and India, he said. The G8 summit statement said all G8 leaders were committed to taking "strong and early action" to tackle climate change. "We will seriously consider the decisions made by the European Union, Canada and Japan which include at least a halving of global emissions by 2050," the statement said, adding: "We commit to achieving these goals." The summit said all major emerging economies must also join the endeavour. "As climate change is a global problem, the response to it needs to be international," leaders underlined. The statement pointed out that the "UN climate process is the appropriate forum for negotiating future global action on climate change" after the 2012 expiry of the current Kyoto Protocol on global warming. As such, all nations must participate "actively and constructively" in the UN climate change conference to be held in Bali, Indonesia in December "with a view to achieving a comprehensive post-2012 agreement that should include all major emitters." The framework for a new global climate change pact should be agreed by the end of 2008 and an agreement should be concluded by 2009, G8 leaders said. Separately at the meeting, Russia's Putin made a surprise offer to share the use of a radar station in Azerbaijan with the US. This would ensure better protection against a possible Iranian missile threat than US plans for a missile shield in Central Europe, Putin said. Putin, who met Bush on the margins of the G8 summit, told reporters that Moscow and Washington could jointly operate the Gabala Radar Station in Azerbaijan which is currently rented out to Russia. The Russian leader, standing next to Bush while speaking to correspondents, said he had cleared the offer with Ilham Aliyev, the president of Azerbaijan. If the proposal was accepted by Washington, Russia would not need to retarget Europe in response to the US plan to station elements of a missile shield in Poland and the Czech Republic, Putin added. "This will make it unnecessary for us to place our offensive complexes along the borders with Europe," said Putin. He said that such an arrangement would provide security for all of Europe, rather than just parts of the continent. Kremlin spokesman Dmitri Peskov said that if accepted, the Russian proposal would "lead to a substantial easing of tensions." He added: "Our concerns will disappear." Hadley said the Russian move was a "positive response" to Bush's call for joint cooperation with Russia on missile defence. The US leader believed Russia had made an "interesting proposal" which required detailed scrutiny by military experts, he underlined. US and Russian officials should meet to study both sides' proposals, said Hadley. Bush said talks about missile defence with Russia would continue in the coming weeks, adding that he wanted a "constructive and strategic dialogue" with Putin. US-Russia relations have deteriorated rapidly in recent months, largely because of Moscow's opposition to the US missile defence plans. However, the two leaders are set to meet for two days of talks beginning July 1 in Kennebunkport, Maine, at the Bush family's oceanfront home.
