BRDO, Slovenia, June 10 (Xinhua) -- The European Union (EU) on Tuesday urged leadership from Washington in fight against climate change while U.S. President George W. Bush insisted on bringing emerging economies on board.

    European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso said leadership of the EU and the United States will make an international agreement involving developing countries more likely.

    "We hope that the United States and Europe can work even closer on this issue," he told a press conference after Tuesday's EU-U.S. summit.

    "It is important now to move ahead," he said.

    The United States has refused to sign up to binding goals to cut carbon emissions, called by the EU, citing that developing countries are not on board.

    "Unless China and India are at the table ... I don't see how an international agreement can be effective," Bush said.

    In a summit declaration, EU and U.S. leaders committed themselves in the context of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) to securing an international agreement on climate change by the end of 2009.

    "I think we can actually get an agreement on global climate change during my presidency," said Bush, who is leaving office on Jan. 20, 2009.

    Slovenian Prime Minister Janez Jansa, who hosted the EU-U.S. summit, warned that time is running out for a global agreement by the end of 2009.

    "Without a leading role of the EU and the United States and without close cooperation, it is not possible to reach a global agreement in the short term," Jansa told the same press conference.

    He said the Group of Eight summit next month must represent a significant step forward if the deadline is to be met.

    Climate change has been a thorny issue in transatlantic relations. The EU has unilaterally promised to cut greenhouse gas emissions by at least 20 percent by 2020 below 1990 levels while the Bush administration has refused to set mandatory goals for fears of hurting economic growth.