UN climate summit ends with "optimism, urgency and hope"

UNITED NATIONS, Sept. 22 (Xinhua) -- Nearly 100 heads of state and government concluded on Tuesday evening their largest-ever gathering on the climate challenge with what UN chief Ban Ki-moon called "a sense of optimism, urgency and hope."

The day-long event has generated "fresh wind" and "much-needed political momentum" for the international community to reach an ambitious agreement on greenhouse gas emission at the upcoming UN conference in Copenhagen, Ban told a press conference at the end of the summit.

"We are on the right track," the UN secretary-general said.

But the UN chief also struck a more cautious note. "It will not be easy. It involves a terribly complex negotiating process," he said. "We are not there yet, and while the summit is not guarantee that we will get a deal, we are certainly one step further."

Danish Prime Minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen, whose country will host the historic UN climate meeting in December, echoed with a similar view. "We are still far from a solution. There is a deadlock in negotiations."

Although this summit was "a bold step in the right direction," heads of state must make it a priority to provide clear support and guidance to the negotiators, Rasmussen said.

The premier said that he was encouraged by the round table discussions, which sent "a very strong signal that heads of state have decided to engage themselves in this."

The opening session of the summit featured quoting late astronomer Carl Sagan and showing his "Pale Blue Dot" photo of Earth taken in 1990 from Voyager 1 within the larger cosmos, followed by a film both written and narrated by children from around the world.