The European Union wants talks to start next year on strengthening the international fight against climate change over the next decade. It wants several informal meetings next year that would include the United States.

But the US representative at the conference, Paula Dobriansky, highlighted that the United States was only prepared to hold one meeting early in 2005 that would be an "exchange of information" on the environment policies of different countries.

Official talks on measures to follow the Kyoto protocol, which runs until 2012, are to start in November next year.

The United States has refused to ratify the Kyoto protocol on cutting emissions of six key gases, which comes into effect in February, and Dobriansky, the under secretary of state for global affairs, said the European proposal was "premature".

"We don't see seminars as discussions on post-Kyoto arrangements."

Pieter van Geel, state secretary at the Dutch ministry of housing, planning and environment, representing the EU presidency, said: "We want these discussions to be orientated on the future."

US President George W. Bush rejected the Kyoto protocol after he took office in 2001 saying it would cost US industry too much to meet the gas emission cuts sought under the accord.

The US stance has infuriated Europe and other allies in the industrial world who have signed up for Kyoto.

And as a result, the United States will only be observers at the next round of talks on ways to counter global warming.

Europe, backed by many leading emerging nations such as China, believe that any post-Kyoto accord would have no meaning without the United States, which is the source of 23 percent of the world's greenhouse gases.

China is next with 13 percent. But with their fast economic growth, China, India and Brazil are becoming major carbon dioxide producers. China has said however that it will not agree to any measures that harms its economic growth.

Environment ministers from 90 countries are at the Buenos Aires conference which started December 6 and ends Friday.

The Argentine hosts were trying Thursday to secure agreement from the 20 key nations at the event on a closing statement.

The European Union has rejected a proposed text which said there would be just one informal meeting in May 2005 -- which was what the United States wanted -- neither does it make any reference to the future of the negotiations.

"The latest consensus text (proposed by Argentina) is accceptable to the United States as well as India and China and a few other countries," said Harlan L. Watson, a top US State Department negotiator on climate change.

All rights reserved. copyright 2018 Agence France-Presse. Sections of the information displayed on this page (dispatches, photographs, logos) are protected by intellectual property rights owned by Agence France-Presse. As a consequence, you may not copy, reproduce, modify, transmit, publish, display or in any way commercially exploit any of the content of this section without the prior written consent of Agence France-Presse.