German Chancellor Merkel arrives for visit to Japan

Описание: (29 Aug 2007) SHOTLIST
1. Plane carrying German Chancellor Angela Merkel taxiing
2. Merkel disembarking from plane
3. Merkel shaking hands with officials
4. Japanese guards of honour
5. Merkel walking past guards of honour to motorcade
6. German and Japanese national flags
7. Merkel's motorcade leaving airport
STORYLINE:
German Chancellor Angela Merkel began the second leg of her week-long Asia tour on Wednesday, arriving in Japan to discuss climate change and other key global issues with government and business leaders.
Merkel was scheduled to hold talks with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe later on Wednesday, when the two leaders were expected to discuss how to work with major emitters to achieve greenhouse gas reduction goals, international efforts against terrorism, and other global issues, a Japanese Foreign Ministry official said.
The German Chancellor flew to Tokyo from China where she raised human rights issues along with trade, environmental protection, and China's rampant copyright piracy during talks with Chinese President Hu Jintao and Premier Wen Jiabao.
While in Japan, Merkel was also to visit Kyoto, where the current protocol limiting greenhouse gas emissions was negotiated ten years ago, underlining her push for a new global agreement to combat climate change once that pact expires in 2012.
Merkel, whose country holds the presidency of the Group of Eight industrialised nations, has been lobbying for the accord, which nations are to begin negotiating at UN-sponsored talks in December.
Japan will chair the G-8 next year.
At the German-hosted G-8 summit in June, leaders agreed to "seriously consider" proposals to cut emissions of greenhouse gases by 50 percent by 2050, non-binding language that was a compromise between the EU, which wants mandatory cuts, and the US, which opposes them.
Japan has announced an "Abe Initiative" of short- and long-term goals to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, and is calling for a new global warming pact to succeed the 1997 Kyoto Protocol.
The United States, the world's top emitter of such gases, and Australia, the worst greenhouse-gas polluter per capita, have rejected the Kyoto agreement, saying it would hurt their economies.

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