WASHINGTON, D.C. - Canada's Environment Minister, John Baird, today concluded two days of meetings on climate change in Washington, D.C. by stressing that for any post-2012 climate change agreement to be successful, it must include all major greenhouse gas emitting countries.

"Over the last few months, Canada has been at the forefront of international action on climate change, including the leadership shown by the Prime Minister at APEC and the United Nations. More recently, countries achieved historic success at the Montreal Protocol conference, where over 190 countries agreed on eliminating substances that harm the ozone layer and contribute to climate change," Minister Baird said. "We are pleased to build on these discussions as we move closer to an international framework on climate change involving the entire world."

The meeting included 14 of the world's biggest emitters in efforts to make progress towards the creation of an international framework to address climate change after the year 2012.

Canada believes that any post-2012 global agreement must be comprehensive and include all major emitting countries, be long term and flexible to maintain economic growth and prosperity, and encourage the development and deployment of new and existing technologies.

Canada's Action Plan to fight greenhouse gases called "Turning the Corner", includes elements that could work for many countries of the world, including some of the large emitters. For the first time ever, the Government of Canada is putting in place mandatory reduction targets for all industries that produce greenhouse gases.

As a result of the Plan, Canada's greenhouse gas emissions from all sources will begin to decline as early as 2010 and no later than 2012. Canada's total emissions of greenhouse gases will be reduced, relative to 2006 levels, by 20 percent by 2020 and by 60 to 70 percent by 2050.

"One of the important issues to note is that meetings like these are complementary to, but not a replacement for, the United Nations process on fighting climate change," said Minister Baird. "Canada is committed to continuing to work forcefully within the United Nations, understanding that it is key to achieving global results."