Return to Transcripts main page

CNN Live At Daybreak

No Deal at Earth Summit

Aired September 02, 2002 - 05:36   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

CATHERINE CALLAWAY, CNN ANCHOR: No deal yet at the Earth Summit in South Africa. World leaders having trouble agreeing on a plan to ease poverty and clean up the environment, a big task.
Our Jeff Koinange is joining us by telephone now from Johannesburg with the latest on the conference there -- Jeff, hello.

JEFF KOINANGE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's right, Catherine. Hello from Johannesburg, where about a half an hour ago, British Prime Minister Tony Blair, keynote speaker, one of the heads of state who are here, one of the more than 100 heads of state. And you can put this headline on, Catherine. You can say world leaders throw down the gauntlet at the world summit.

Prime Minister Tony Blair, in a very impassioned speech, saying, in his words, "We know the problems. We know the solutions. What's needed here is the political will."

Now, many people wondered whether Prime Minister Blair was going to address the Zimbabwe situation. He, of course, did not, but he did mention Africa in particular. He says Africa, to him, is a passion and he was very committed. He went on to say if Africa is a scar on the conscience of the world then we must heal it.

German Chancellor Gerhardt Schroeder also came out passionately and said agricultural subsidies must be reduced and eventually eliminated. The same thing by Canadian Prime Minister Jean Cretien.

So world leaders are really speaking out this morning, Catherine. It looks like it's going to be a very interesting day because everybody seems to be speaking the same language.

Earlier on, President Thabo Mbeke said it. He summed it all up. He said, "Now is the time to act and speed and commitment to implementation will be key."

So it looks like hopefully by the end of this day that one sticking point that's remaining, and that's on renewable energy, hopefully they will resolve that to put targets and timetables and make sure that the entire document, everyone is speaking with the same language at the end of the document -- Catherine.

CALLAWAY: Right. You know, when you mentioned targets and timetables, as you did, you know, I wonder about these type of plans. Is it really to come up with a working plan or just to bring the issues to the forefront among all of the leaders that are there? KOINANGE: You know, Catherine, if there is a commitment -- and the targets and timetables are all scheduled around the year 2015, which is basically 13 years away. It's not that far away. But you're right, if there is a concerted effort, if there is a commitment then it will work. And the fact that it's such a sticking point to put a target and a timetable on it means that they are really committed to giving themselves, you know, 13 or 20 years to reach that goal -- Catherine.

CALLAWAY: Jeff Koinange, thank you so much for being with us today.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com