The Dutch official steered the UNFCCC through the most tortuous phase of its existence, spanning the Bali summit of 2007 that promised a new comprehensive global agreement within two years and the Copenhagen summit of 2009 that failed to deliver such an agreement.

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We last met at the East Asia Summit in Bali a year ago.

WHITEHOUSE: President Obama's Bilateral Meeting with Premier Wen of China | The White House

Mistakes had been made, she said, at December's Copenhagen summit, which was intended to provide a comprehensive package of measures to combat the causes and impacts of climate change - the conclusion to a commitment made by all governments at the 2007 summit in Bali - but which ended with no such thing.

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At a summit last year in Bali, they pledged to streamline customs procedures and to adopt shared product standards.

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It's a commitment that I'll reaffirm in Bali as the United States joins the East Asia Summit.

WHITEHOUSE: President Obama��s News Conference with Prime Minister Gillard of Australia | The White House

Last year, those of you who came to Bali with us will recall the U.S. for the first time joined in the East Asia Summit.

WHITEHOUSE: The White House