PARIS: US President Barack Obama said on Monday that India had to be able to grow and fight poverty, while Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi pledged to ensure development would be coupled with environmental protection.

One of the stumbling blocks to getting an inclusive agreement to fight climate change has been the United States’ reluctance to accept that some countries should be obliged to do more than others, while nations such as India have objected to restrictions on their development.

After talks with Modi on the sidelines of a UN summit on climate change in Paris, Obama told reporters he and Modi had agreed climate change was an urgent threat and also that India also had to be able to grow.

In return, Modi said he would work “to ensure that development and environmental protection go hand in hand”.

Published in Dawn, December 1st, 2015