January 28, 2007	Sunday	Muharram 08, 1428

DAVOS, Jan 27: British Prime Minister Tony Blair warned on Saturday of “a yawning gap” between an understanding of global challenges like climate change and the capacity to deal with them.

In a keynote speech on the final day of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Blair declared himself “optimistic” on three of the issues that dominated the annual gathering of political and business leaders – world trade, climate change and Africa.

“There are signs of hope,” he said, citing moves made in Davos to resume stalled global trade talks, US President George W. Bush's recent proposals for reducing carbon emissions and debt eradication for Africa.

Trade ministers meeting here earlier on Saturday had agreed to back a “quick resumption” of the Doha round of World Trade Organisation talks which were suspended in July.

“I think, with the announcement today, it is now more likely than not, though by no means certain, that we will reach a deal within the next few months,” Blair said.

But while acknowledging a new sense of common purpose to take concerted action, Blair said the international community remained “woefully short” of the instruments to make multilateral action effective.

“There is too often a yawning gap between our description of an issue’s importance and the matching capability to determine it,” he said.

On climate change, Blair stressed that without binding commitments to reduce carbon emissions by the United States, China and India, efforts by other countries would be ineffective.

“If Britain shut down our emissions entirely ... if we closed down the country, the growth in China's emissions would make up the difference in just two years,” he said.

Blair has promised to step down as prime minister by September this year, making this his swan song appearance at the annual Davos gathering of the world’s movers and shakers.

His most likely successor, Britain’s finance minister Gordon Brown, also attended this year’s Forum.

On Africa, Blair said the inability of the international community to act swiftly and effectively was highlighted by the ongoing situation in the Darfur region of Sudan.

“What is happening in Darfur today is a scandal; not a problem, a scandal,” he said.

“Hundreds of thousands die or live lives of unbelievable risk and misery because we cannot assemble a proper peace agreement, properly enforced, with the full weight of the international community behind it.”—AFP