CLIMATE ACTION PARTNERSHIP ANNOUNCED BETWEEN AUSTRALIA AND THE UNITED STATES
U.S. DEPARTMENT OF STATE Office of the Spokesman
For Immediate Release February 27, 2002
STATEMENT BY RICHARD BOUCHER, SPOKESMAN
CLIMATE ACTION PARTNERSHIP ANNOUNCED BETWEEN AUSTRALIA AND THE UNITED STATES
Following is the text of a joint statement released today by the United States and Australia.
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The governments of the United States and Australia today announced an agreement to establish a Climate Action
Partnership. The agreement was reached following meetings on climate change held in Washington this week between Dr.
David Kemp, Australian Minister for the Environment and Heritage, and several senior members of the U.S. Administration,
including: EPA Administrator Christine Todd Whitman, Chairman of the White House Council on Environmental Quality James
Connaughton, Deputy Secretary of Energy Francis Blake, and Under Secretary of State for Global Affairs Paula Dobriansky.
The U.S.-Australia Climate Action Partnership will involve the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the U.S. Department
of Commerce, the U.S. Department of Energy, and the U.S. Department of State and their Australian counterparts.
The initial meeting will be coordinated by Under Secretary of State Dobriansky and Dr. Kemp.
The partnership will focus on practical approaches toward dealing with climate change.
Informal working groups will involve officials, under senior-level leadership, from the Departments of Commerce, Energy
and State and the Environmental Protection Agency, and their Australian counterpart agencies, as well as research bodies
and industry. They will focus on such issues as emissions measurement and accounting, climate change science, stationary
energy technologies, engagement with business to create economically efficient climate change solutions, agriculture and
land management and collaboration with developing countries to build capacity to deal with climate change.
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