KATHMANDU: The government today sent its endorsement of Copenhagen Accord on Climate Change to the secretariat of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change.

Following consultation with Prime Minister Madhav Kumar and various stakeholders, the Ministry of Environment submitted the endorsement letter paving way to make the accord legally binding. Environment Minister Thakur Prasad Sharma said, “We decided to accept the Copenhagen accord with some reservations that have been consistently raised by the least developed countries.”

At a press meet today the ministry clarified that the endorsement was conditional but enough to pave way to make the accord legally binding. Purusottam Ghimire, joint secretary at the ministry said, “The negotiation is a continuous process and we are trying to bring the benefits to the country as much possible during a discussion later this year.

But it is imperative that the nation deals with issues diplomatically so the acceptance was a part of it and we did it.” The Copenhagen accord had set the deadline of January 31 for nations to submit their stance. “We were on time and we did it after rigorous consultations,” concluded Ghimire.