POTSDAM (AFP) - Japan said on Wednesday that German proposals to complete negotiations on a successor to the Kyoto Protocol on greenhouse gases by 2009 were "premature."
German Chancellor Angela Merkel wants the summit of the Group of Eight most industrialized nations in the German town of Heiligendamm next week to produce a clear commitment on limiting greenhouse gases.
Asia and Europe failed to agree on the issue of the 2009 deadline proposed by Germany at two days of talks in the northern German city of Hamburg which ended on Tuesday.
Japan, which has been leading efforts among Asian nations to limit global warming, said it believed major emitters of greenhouse gases such as the United States, China and India should agree to join the process before any timetable was put in place.