Warm welcome for China-Australian climate partnership

Mr Rudd and the Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao have agreed on a new ministerial level partnership, and funding for a group to develop clean-coal technology.

John Connor from the Climate Institute says the agreement reflects the importance countries like China will play in the development of a new global deal to cut greenhouse gas emissions.

"Over the next two years we have knife-edge talks all the way down to the line towards the end of 2009 where we need to come up with a global deal," he said.

"Countries like China and the US are going to be critical in the outcome and they're really worth a lot of extra effort from Australia's diplomats and political leaders."

Source: By Australian Broadcasting Corporation