Wirth hands over leadership of US delegation

US President Bill Clinton has picked Stuart Eizenstat, a senior State Department official and former domestic policy assistant to President Jimmy Carter, to lead the US delegation to the

Kyoto climate talks.

Eizenstat, a lawyer by training, is under-secretary of state for economic, business and agricultural affairs. He replaces the expected choice, Timothy Wirth, under-secretary of state for

global affairs, who announced last week he was leaving the department to head the United Nations Foundation, set up to manage Ted Turner's $1 billion donation to the United Nations.

Wirth's announcement at this critical stage is unlikely to raise confidence in the prospects for a greenhouse gas reduction treaty.

The United States has proposed stabilizing emissions at 1990 levels, but on condition that developing countries contribute to emissions reductions. Developing countries oppose this. Unless

one side shows flexibility, a treaty is unlikely.

Wirth had been carefully guiding US strategy leading up to Kyoto. An important element has been to downplay the prospects of a radical agreement at Kyoto. Wirth has travelled to major

capitals aggressively promoting the US line. But, as an experienced politician with a well known commitment to environmental causes, his comments were seen by some as an attempt to avoid the

United States being blamed for a failure to reach agreement.

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