£ £ WORLD leaders at the World Summit on Sustainable Development (WSSD) in Johannesburg yesterday declared their commitment to build a humane and caring global society of six billion population.

£ £ More than 100 heads of state and government leaders attended the high level segment of the summit, which was opened at 9:10 a.m. (7:10 a.m. GMT).

£ £ Chinese Premier Zhu Rongji, who arrived in Johannesburg Sunday, is scheduled to address the summit today and will later clarify China's stance on the key sustainable development issues during round-table discussions.

£ £ At yesterday's meeting, world leaders reaffirmed their commitment to the achievement of sustainable development.

£ £ U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan urged all nations to work together to uplift the poor and to rescue the world's struggling environment.

£ £ Conjuring up the "cries for help of those 13 million souls" in southern Africa facing starvation, Annan told leaders that failure to take decisive action at the summit would have too high a cost.

£ £ The 10-day conference, which started a week ago, aims to shape an agreement to turn promises made at the 1992 Earth Summit in Rio into reality.

£ £ However, negotiations over reaching an action plan have been painstaking.

£ £ Bleary-eyed negotiators worked into the early hours of the morning yesterday trying to hammer out the last details of an

£ £ £ £ agreement and were upbeat after compromises were reached in three key areas: climate change,

trade and sanitation.

£ £ Diplomats said one contentious issue was resolved late Saturday, when negotiators settled on wording to address the Kyoto Protocol on climate change, which the United States has refused to sign.

£ £ The agreed text says nations that have ratified Kyoto "strongly urge" states that have not done so to ratify it in "a timely manner."

£ £ Negotiators also reached compromises on trade that largely stick to language agreed at a World Trade Organization meeting

in Doha, Qatar. They include a repeat of commitments to hold negotiations with a view to phasing out agriculture and other trade-distorting subsidies.
The last outstanding trade issue was resolved late Sunday when negotiators agreed to delete language giving the WTO precedence over multilateral environment agreements, diplomats said.
Early yesterday, negotiators added a commitment to halve the two billion people living without sanitation by 2015, diplomats said.
Although everyone from King Mswati III of Swaziland to German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder was there yesterday, many were disappointed that U.S. President George W. Bush had opted not to come.
Several speakers slyly criticized the United States with general appeals for all countries to ratify Kyoto.
Addressing world leaders, five children including 11-year-old Liao Mingyu from Shenzhen, China, called on world leaders to take action rather than good words to save the planet.
Starting from Aug. 26, the WSSD has completed the first phase of the summit with 95 percent of the document agreed, leaving such issues as energy, trade, finance and market access still unresolved.
The summit will be closed tomorrow after leaders approve an action plan and a delcaration.
(SD-Agencies)

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