Wish you were here

As the world's leaders flock to Copenhagen only a minority of countries are not represented at heads of state and government level. Reuters has the list of countries that did not send their leaders.
Morten Andersen - 18/12/2009 - A record number of 119 leaders from countries estimated to represent 89 percent of the world's economic output are gathered for the UN conference on climate change. Still, a number of heads of state didn't come. Reuters has compiled a list.

One group of countries on the list are oil producing. These include Angola, Azerbaijan, Iraq, Kazakhstan, Libya, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the UAE (United Arab Emirates).

Another group consists of island states: Antigua & Barbuda, Barbados, Cape Verde, Cuba, Fiji, Jamaica, Solomon Islands and Tonga. However, most of these nations are represented in Copenhagen by the Alliance of Small Island States (AOSIS).

Ten Latin American countries are not represented by their leaders: Argentina, Chile, Costa Rica, Ecuador, El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua, Paraguay, Peru and Uruguay.

Finally, for various reasons, the heads of state from Italy, Switzerland and Ukraine were not able to come – Italy's Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi because he is recovering from injuries after an attack a couple of days ago.

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