LISBON, Jan. 8 (Xinhua) -- Portugal's President Anibal Cavaco Silva said Tuesday that he considered climate change a serious worldwide menace and called for swift and wide post-Kyoto environmental agreements.

    "The planet cannot wait so long for a post-2012 agreement as it did waiting for the Kyoto Protocol," he told a New Year reception for ambassadors at Lisbon's Queluz Palace. "Negotiations for a post-2012 accord must be ambitious and swiftly completed."

    In December, 180 nations' representatives convened on the Indonesian island of Bali and agreed to hold talks in April to craft a replacement for the accord, which runs out in 2012.

    In addition, Cavaco called for states to fight poverty and social exclusion, which he said continues to exist even in the most privileged nations.

    Terrorism "is one of the most serious consequences of exclusion," he said, adding that terrorist activities should be tackled not only through judicial means but by "encouraging conflict resolution, mutual understanding and collaboration between people and nations."     (Jan.9)

Editor: Xu Hui