Sydney - Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd is due to meet US President Barack Obama in Washington next week to discuss prospects for next month's climate change conference in Copenhagen. "I have been invited by the President of the United States to meet with him in Washington next Monday," Rudd told parliament Thursday.
Rudd will tack a visit to Washington on to his trip across the Pacific to attend this week's Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting in the Caribbean state of Trinidad and Tobago.
Rudd welcomed Obama's decision to attend the Copenhagen gathering and his announcement that the US would set a target of reducing emissions by 17 per cent below 2005 levels by 2020.
"This announcement will help build momentum towards an ambitious target at Copenhagen," Rudd said.
Danish Prime Minister Lars Rasmussen has named Rudd, along with Mexican President Felipe Calderon, a "friend of the chair" at the Copenhagen meeting, which will give him a leading role in shaping discussions.
Rudd has said a legally binding treaty would be too much to hope for from Copenhagen, but there would be what he has called an operational framework agreement.
Rudd, who later this week expects to see his carbon-trading scheme pass through Parliament, will take to Copenhagen a promise to unilaterally reduce emissions on 2000 levels by 5 per cent by 2020.
He has promised to go as high as 25 per cent if there were matching commitments at the Copenhagen meeting.
