国际英语新闻：Denmark calls for following up Copenhagen Accord

STOCKHOLM, Jan. 22 (Xinhua) -- Denmark on Friday called on countries to move the Copenhagen Accord forward and prepare for COP 16, according to reports reaching here from Copenhagen.

"Now it is time to follow-up. The best way to do this is to ensure broad support by having as many countries as possible associate themselves with the Copenhagen Accord and to submit contributions to the appendices," Ulla Tornas, Danish Minister for Development Cooperation said in a speech to the Diplomatic Corps in Copenhagen.

The Copenhagen Accord is a non-legally binding document adopted after a two-week-long climate change conference in Denmark last year. UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon commented it as "a significant step forward" in committing countries to respond to climate change.

COP16 will be the sixteenth Conference of the Parties under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). The conference will be held in Mexico between Nov. 29 and Dec. 10 2010.

"At the same time I would like to stress that the international community must deliver on fast start financing," said Tornas.

"We should build our future international climate regime on the Copenhagen Accord," Tornas told the diplomats, adding that the conference has generated an uNPRecedented level of engagement in the climate change agenda across the world.

She also said Denmark had already encouraged all the Parties to the Convention to inform the UNFCCC Secretariat as soon as possible about their willingness to be associated with the Copenhagen Accord.