In a meeting with Swedish Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt on Monday (2 November), President Obama emphasised the importance of cooperating on climate change while touting the need for the US and the European Union to coordinate on economic policies that can help create jobs.
Reinfeldt said he hoped the transatlantic summit would deliver a clearer US position on climate change, as regards finance and targets in order to maintain global temperature increases below 2 degrees Celsius.
"Unless the US makes a clear commitment it will be hard for others to do their part," Reinfeldt said, pointing out that some developing countries, namely China, are waiting for the US to take on their share of responsibility. But Obama suggested the Copenhagen summit will not result in an agreement on a final treaty as the UN is hoping.
The goal was not a deal "that solves every problem on this issue but takes an important step forward and lays the groundwork for further progress in the future," he said. Reinfeldt said it was critical for the two sides to find a way forward in the six weeks before the Copenhagen talks.
Meanwhile, Obama said the European Union is "an important trading partner" for the USA. While noting that the world economy is starting to stabilise, Obama said that "it is absolutely critical" to coordinate on ways to ensure that the United States and the European Union are moving towards robust growth and creating more jobs. It is also critical that "we continue to shy away from any protectionist measures," he said.
"Sweden, the United States, the EU as a whole and the world as a whole are interested in an outcome that can start moving us down the path of a sustainable economy that is not accelerating the potential catastrophe of climate change," the president added.
Swedish Deputy Prime Minister Maud Olofsson, Swedish Foreign Affairs Minister Carl Bildt, European Commission President José Manuel Barroso and EU High Representative for the Common Foreign and Security Policy Javier Solana are also attending the Washington summit.
The meeting is the first formal summit to take place between the EU and the USA during the Obama administration.
