The government now needs to seal the deal on offshore: it needs to bag the first 8,000 jobs and hundreds of millions of pounds already pledged, by firmly supporting the technology," said Maria McCaffery, chief executive of RenewableUK.
The government of Massimo D'Alema, behind the scenes, had pledged to stick firmly with Nato.
The BBC, which accounts for more than half of all radio listening, and Channel 4, which has ambitious plans to expand into the sector with the launch of three new digital stations, said they remained firmly behind the platform and pledged to work together to promote it.
Given that a total ban on coal imports could be destabilizing, it remains to be seen how firmly the pledge will be carried out.
And in closed-door meetings with city leaders, they said that they had never firmly expected all of the nearly $20 billion pledged to New York to be delivered right away.
Andrew Mitchell, the international development secretary, said there was a "moral imperative" to tackle world poverty which is "firmly in Britain's national interest as he pledged to spend "every penny" of overseas aid effectively (2.13pm).
Speaking earlier this week, Mr. Jospin pledged that the government would crack down firmly on any acts of anti-Semitism.
Though Mr. Blair's alliance with Mr. Bush on the invasion and occupation of Iraq has caused his popularity to plummet at home, he pledged his solidarity with the American more firmly than ever.
The French, wary of being tagged as neo-colonial, have a separate force of 900 soldiers who are pledged to back the UN, which has stated firmly that it will protect Mr Ouattara.
