The US president has invited a number of industrialised and developing nations to a conference in Washington to set goals on cutting greenhouse gas emissions.

George Bush asked Australia, Brazil, India, Indonesia, Japan, Mexico, Russia, South Africa and South Korea to the meeting, scheduled for 27-28 September, the White House said on Friday.

Bush has also invited delegations from Europe, including officials from the EU, Britain, France, Germany, and Italy, as well as the United Nations.

Condoleezza Rice, US secretary of state, will host the talks.

"The United States is committed to collaborating with other major economies to agree on a detailed contribution for a new global framework by the end of 2008, which would contribute to a global agreement under the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change by 2009," Bush said in his invitation.

Clean technologies

The nations are expected to discuss how greenhouse gases can be reduced without hampering economic growth.

"We expect to place special emphasis on how major economies can, in close co-operation with the private sector, accelerate the development and deployment of clean technologies, a critical component of an effective global approach to reducing greenhouse gas emissions," Bush said. 

He initially announced the planned meeting at a Group of Eight summit in Germany, where he refused to commit Washington to significant emissions reduction targets.

The US is the world biggest emitter of greenhouse gases and has refused to ratify the 1997 Kyoto protocol on climate change.

The protocol mandates cuts in greenhouse gases blamed for climate change. Bush has cited Kyoto's exemptions for China and India, as developing nations, as a chief reason for not submitting the protocol to be ratified by the US senate.

New deal

Ban Ki-moon, UN secretary-general, appealed to nation states earlier this week to agree to a new climate change deal by 2009 and enforce it by the time the Kyoto protocol expires in 2012.

UN negotiations on a new protocol on climate change are due to begin in December, at a conference in Bali.

The UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) reported this year that the world's temperature rose by 0.74 degrees Celsius during the last century.

It warned that temperatures are set to rise by 3.0 degrees Celsius this century unless measures are taken to reduce the rate of warming.

Nearly 100 countries speaking at the first UN general assembly meeting on climate change have lent strong support for negotiations on a deal to challenge climate change.

The two-day meeting was extended for an extra day so that countries could describe their individual situations in greater detail to other nations.