Prime Minister Manmohan Singh today returned home after attending the UN Summit on Climate Change in Copenhagen. Dr Singh delayed his departure by about five hours to hold negotiations with leaders of China, Brazil and South Africa.<br/><br/>Hours after high drama at the landmark climate summit at Copenhagen, US and BASIC countries – Brazil, South Africa, India and China reached to have legally non-binding with transparency in emission cuts, mitigation targets and finance forming the basis of the common approach. Prime Minister's Special Envoy on climate change Shyam Saran stayed back to give final touches to the agreement which has the approval of the heads of the States of these countries. <br/><br/>The discussions continued till late Friday night and the final agreement is not yet available. But the pact ran into rough weather with several developing countries opposing it, saying, it was legally non-binding and set no target for curbing carbon emissions.<br/><br/>President Barack Obama made announcement after extended talks that US has reached a meaningful deal to curb green house gas emissions with this group. <br/><br/>German Chanellor Angela Merkel and British Prime Minister Gordon Brown accepted the Copenhagen climate deal, but said, they had wanted more. <br/><br/>AIR correspondent reports that the agreement between the US and BASIC countries was achieved after President Obama took the initiative.<br/><br/>Earlier, New Delhi asserted that any global regime to tackle climate change must take sustainable development into account. Addressing the plenary session of the Climate conference at Copenhagenm the Prime Minister, Dr. Manmohan Singh said that the outcome of the conference may fall short of expectations but it can become a significant milestone. He called for further negotiations leading to a legal treaty to tackle global warming in 2010. <br/><br/>Reacting to the concerted attempts by rich nations to commit to a date by which its emissions of greenhouse gases (GHG) would peak, Dr. Singh said that emissions – mostly carbon dioxide and most of it from industrialized countries and this is leading to climate change. To fight climate change, the Prime Minister emphasised the importance of the Bali Action Plan worked out in 2007. He said, the Kyoto Protocol should continue to stand as valid legal instrument. <br/><br/>The third major issue, Dr. Singh said that any new regime to tackle climate change has to take sustainable development into account. He said that New Delhi has a vital stake in the success of the negotiations and India is among the countries most likely to severely impacted by climate change. <br/><br/>AIR Correspondent covering the summit reports that the speeches given by Chinse premier and the Brazilian President also echoed similar ideas, as Brazil, South Africa, India and China had worked out strategy ahead of the summit.<br/><br/>Dr. Manmohan Singh had a busy schedule during his stay in Copenhagen. Before joining the marathon discussions at the climate talks, he had a meeting with his Chinese counterpart on a host of issues. Both the leaders decided to expand and deepen the bilateral strategic partnership.<br/>