By EHUD ZION WALDOKS
President Shimon Peres will head to Copenhagen on Wednesday to represent Israel during the high- level talks of UN-sponsored climate negotiations, his office said Saturday night.
Peres had begun to consider attending after PM Binyamin Netanyahu announced last week that he would not be attending.
Peres said in a statement that it was important that Israel be represented during climate talks and that the country should take an active part in helping to fight global warming.
World leaders will flock to the Danish capital Wednesday to Friday to decide on the issues which their delegations have been attempting to hammer out since early last week.
On Friday, the NGO delegation to Copenhagen sent a letter to Peres urging him to attend as the natural leader of the Israeli delegation. Peres has been championing environmental issues since assuming office as president.
In addition to participating in the negotiations, he is set to deliver a speech alongside US President Barack Obama, French President Nicolas Sarkozy, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, Russian President Dmitri Medvedev and other world leaders. He will also be meeting with a series of large cleantech companies to discuss Israel's potential contributions in that area.
The president will also meet with Denmark's Queen, Margrethe II, and participate in a Hanukka candle lighting with the Jewish community of Copenhagen on Friday and will return after Shabbat.