Ban still confident on Copenhagen summit

WASHINGTON, Nov. 10 (UPI) -- An agreement on climate change can develop from the upcoming Copenhagen conference despite unresolved issues, U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said.

Ban arrived in Washington on Tuesday to discuss the U.S. role in moving forward with a comprehensive agreement on climate change at a December conference in Copenhagen, Denmark.

U.N. officials describe the lack of progress in preliminary developments as endangering a comprehensive measure from Copenhagen.

EU officials praised a recent regional deal that outlines the way forward toward a climate-change regime, but hesitation from Washington and Beijing could undermine the overall effort.

U.S. officials said it is unlikely Washington would commit to Copenhagen unless lawmakers move on their own deal on Capitol Hill before December, which some say is unlikely.

Despite the challenges, Janos Pasztor, the U.N. special envoy for climate-change support, told reporters Ban was "confident" that world governments will reach an agreement in Copenhagen on fundamental issues, the U.N. news center reports.

"Those are the three key issues where there still needs to be agreement, and they are precisely the issues where heads of state and heads of government need to be engaged because those issues are so important for the overall economic development of the countries that you cannot expect the negotiators themselves to make a move," he added.

World leaders will examine a successor to the Kyoto Protocol at their December climate summit in Copenhagen.