India's environment minister late Friday likened Mexican Foreign Secretary Patricia Espinosa to a "goddess” as she won rave reviews for brokering a deal on climate change.

At a late-night session of the talks in Cancun, Indian Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh urged all nations to support the "balanced” compromise which he said took account of the points of view of all sides.

"The great Mexican revolutionary leader Porfirio Diaz had said the big challenge for Mexico is it is very close to its northern neighbour but very far away from God," Ramesh said. "But tonight, God has been very close to Mexico."

"If I may say so," he said, "since I come from a country which has more goddesses than gods, not only has God been present, but a goddess has been present today."