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Russian minister to assess if Russia’s interests included in final climate deal

Earlier, reports were coming that the final draft text would be finalised on Saturday morning

MOSCOW, December 12. /TASS/. Russia’s Natural Resources and Environment Minister Sergey Donskoi will assess to what extent Russia’s interests have been taken into account in the final draft text of COP 21 - the 21st session of the Conference of the Parties - ongoing in Paris.

"We have begun to consider the final draft text presented in statements of French President Francois Hollande and Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius in the presence of UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon," Donskoi posted on his Facebook account on Saturday. "We will be assessing to what extent the text has taken into account Russia’s negotiating positions, in particular [carbon] absorption capacity of Russian forests."

Also, Donskoi said that according to French experts, the final agreement "takes into consideration the commitments of emerging economies related to transition to low carbon economy."

Earlier, reports were coming that the final draft text would be finalised on Saturday morning.

COP 21 - the 21st session of the Conference of the Parties - has been underway in Paris since November 30. The conference should have ended on December 11, Friday, but has been extended due to disagreements between 190 nations gathering in the French capital to reach a global agreement on climate change.

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