Poverty remains India's main concern, Krishna tells UN

External affairs minister S M Krishna told world leaders that India continued to face enormous developmental challenges and poverty eradication remains the nation's top priority. "Nearly 200 millions live on less than one dollar a day and nearly 500 millions do not have access to modern sources of energy," he said.

"Our overriding priority, therefore, has to be eradication of poverty for which we must address our energy poverty and use all sources of energy, including fossil fuels," he added.

Krishna was speaking at a Round Table during the Climate Change summit at the United Nations. The high-level summit, which featured more than 100 world leaders, was convened to mobilise political will ahead of the Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen.

Krishna said the outcome in Copenhagen "must also ensure that developing countries can pursue accelerated development also so that they have the resources to cope with and adapt to climate change."

The creation of mechanisms along with provision of financial resources and access to technology which will enable us to upscale our national efforts is an important expectation that we have from Copenhagen," he added.