President Bush has invited representatives from 11 countries to a conference on global warming, to be held in Washington September 27-28.

The White House says Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice will host the meeting.

Attendees are expected to discuss a new strategy for global warming for 2012, when the Kyoto agreement expires. In his invitation letter, Mr. Bush said he hopes the group will agree to set new international limits on gas emissions, and work with businesses to help new environment-friendly technologies grow.

The Bush administration has long been accused of having an environmental policy that lags behind other nations.

The Kyoto Protocol was adopted in 1997 to limit the amount of so-called greenhouse gas emitted in industrialized countries. The United States has never been a party to the agreement.

Mr. Bush invited representatives from the United Nations and European Union as well as the 11 individual nations.