He singled out China and India as the two populous countries key to resolving the climate change problem during a dialogue with 400 delegates after he a keynote address at the conference.

Mr Lee, who compared differing attitudes to environmental protection around the world, also noted in his comments that Americans do not feel the same urgency to act against climate change compared to the Europeans because their vast hinterland mitigates the impact of extreme weather changes.

During his 80-minute keynote lecture and dialogue with participants, MM Lee stressed that climate change was a global problem and every country was under threat from the prospect of melting ice caps and rising sea levels.

The problem the world faces, he said, is that 'China and India want to achieve what they think they have missed in life - the quality and standards of living which Japan, Europe and especially the Americans have reached'.

He believed some Chinese are realising that economic growth should not come at the expense of environmental degradation, though he was doubtful they could reach the same sensitivity to the environment as the Europeans within the next 10 or 20 years.

Nevertheless, China's plan to build an 'eco-city' with Singapore's help in the northern Chinese port city of Tianjin will have an impact, as will the cleaner air experienced by Beijing residents during the Olympic Games in Aug when numerous polluting factories were shut down and cars taken off the road.

As for India, he did not sense an urgency to act against climate change because industrialisation has proceeded more slowly. But as the country builds up its infrastructure over the next 10 to 20 years, its energy consumption would go up.

Asked by a delegate from the World Bank what could be done to press the Chinese and Indians during climate change negotiations, Mr Lee said they were unlikely to 'see the light on the road to Damascus' anytime soon.

'I think there'll have to be a series of meetings and each time reluctantly they'll be dragged into committing themselves to targets which they hope will not be too high for them,' he said.

'The penny will drop only when they see the consequences for them, as Europe has seen.'

But such scepticism about India is unfounded as it is 'deeply committed' to fighting climate change, said India's Minister of Science and Technology Kapil Sibal, who is attending the conference and spoke during the question and answer session with MM Lee. He was India's chief negotiator during the last major international climate change meeting in Bali in Dec last year.

Mr Sibal suggested that what was needed is a 'technological solution' and not just a political one for weaning the world away from its fossil fuel dependence.