PORT OF SPAIN, Nov 28 (Reuters) - Commonwealth nations representing a third of the world's population pledged on Saturday to support negotiation of an "operationally binding" U.N. climate deal in Copenhagen next month, the group's leaders said.
The Commonwealth Climate Change Declaration issued at a summit in Trinidad and Tobago also backed an initiative to establish a Copenhagen Launch Fund, starting in 2010 and building to $10 billion annually by 2012, to help poor and vulnerable states fight the effects of global warming.
"We pledge our continued support to the leaders-driven process ... to deliver a comprehensive, substantial and operationally binding agreement in Copenhagen leading towards a full legally binding outcome no later than 2010," the declaration said. (Reporting by Pascal Fletcher; Editing by John O'Callaghan) ((pascal.fletcher@thomsonreuters.com; +1 305 810 2688))