Obama walking uninvited into a meeting of prime ministers of China and India and presidents of Brazil and South Africa proved to be a key moment for striking of a political deal.
US president Barack Obama walking uninvited into a meeting of prime ministers of China and India and presidents of Brazil and South Africa proved to be a key moment for striking of a political deal to salvage the Copenhagen Climate Summit.
With hopes fading of a summit draft, infact, it was a dramatic turn of events last night, which led to a breakthrough when all seemed lost. Several key world leaders, including prime minister Manmohan Singh had to turn back from the airport to huddle straight into a meeting at the Bella Centre in what was the last ditch effort by Obama to hammer a deal.
Obama was keen for a one-to-one meeting with Chinese prime minister Wen Jiabao.
It was no less a surprise for Obama, himself, and the White House team in Copenhagen when he went into a late afternoon bi-lateral meeting with Wen to find that three other world leaders were already there in the room - Prime Minister, Manmohan Singh, Brazilian President, Lula da Silva and South African President, Jacob Zuma.
Later, US officials said "The only surprise we had, in all our history was...that in that room wasn't just the Chinese having a meeting...but all four countries that we had been trying to arrange meetings with where indeed all in the same room...The President's viewpoint is, I wanted to see them all and now is our chance."
Obama and his team appeared to be taken aback at this as the US President had scheduled a last minute bilateral meeting with the Chinese Premier, followed by a joint meeting with the Indian, Brazilian and South African leaders. But, it appeared that the Chinese, Brazilian, Indian and South African leaders wanted to meet him together, rather than in separate sessions.
Apprehending that the Copenhagen Summit has almost headed towards a dead end, Obama postponed his scheduled departure for the US and told his advance team that he wanted to meet the Chinese premier separately; followed by a joint meeting with the India, Brazilian and South African leaders.
The Chinese team, initially reluctant, told the White House officials that most of the team were already on the airport, while Wen was in his hotel, getting ready to leave. When they called Indian team, they were told that Singh is at the airport. This happened around 4 pm local time.
"I think they thought the meeting was done. I think they thought there wasn't anything left to stay for, in all honesty," a senior administration official said. And when they called Brazil, White House was told no meeting without India, as they knew that Singh was on his way back. Zuma agreed as he did not had the latest information about Singh.
"Brazil tells us that they don't know if they can come because they want the Indians to come. The Indians were at the airport. Zuma is under the impression that everybody is coming," a senior administration official said. And when Zuma came to know that Singh was at the airport, he also backed out of the meeting.
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