The Bush administration has announced plans for a high-level conference on global warming next month that would bring together the world's biggest polluters to seek agreement on reducing greenhouse gas emissions.
US President George W Bush issued invitations to 11 other countries plus the EU and the UN to attend the meeting on 27-28 September in Washington.
The conference is intended to work towards setting a long-term goal by 2008 to cut emissions.
Mr Bush had proposed the conference, which will be hosted by US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, in late May before the G8 summit, but had withheld details until now.
In a letter to invitees, Mr Bush assures them that 'the US is committed to collaborating with other major economies' to agree on a global framework for cutting emissions.
Mr Bush agreed with other leaders of the G8 in June to make 'substantial' but unspecified reductions in emissions and to negotiate a new global climate pact that would extend and broaden the Kyoto Protocol beyond 2012.
But he has refused to sign up to numerical targets before rising powers like China and India make similar pledges.
Convincing these countries to join the UN process will be crucial to reversing a rise in global temperatures.
China and India are among the countries invited to the September conference, which will also include Japan, Canada, Brazil, South Korea, Mexico, Russia, Australia, Indonesia and South Africa.
