But American negotiators, and some environmental campaigners, say this would allow nations simply to buy their way out of legal obligations.

In principle, the agreement allowed nations to meet their targets in several ways.

Only a coordinated strategy will allow civilized nations to respond quickly and adequately to what promises to be a long campaign against terrorists, he said.

It will allow nations with smaller mountains to stage events.

Instead of allowing other nations to set the agenda, President Clinton needs to take the initiative.

In 1987, a fund allowed developing nations to convert their industrial processes.

While Chile's inclusion is not itself controversial, it sets a precedent for allowing other nations into the accord.

Another, he said, would be allowing foreign nations to monitor tests of the system.

Trade, rather than hand-outs, allows poor nations to help themselves, as the Indonesians were pleading after the tsunami.

For it is the internal market that allows individual European nations to maintain their competitiveness in the global arena.