• Society

ASEAN ministers to discuss environment-related issues in Cambodia

• Xinhua
• October 6, 2019 3:29 AM

PHNOM PENH -- Environment ministers from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) are due to meet in Cambodia next week to discuss transboundary haze pollution and other environment-related issues, a Cambodian spokesman said on Saturday.

They will gather at the 15th ASEAN Ministerial Meeting on the Environment (15th AMME) and related meetings, scheduled for Oct. 7-10 in northwest Siem Reap province, said Environment Ministry Secretary of State and Spokesman Neth Pheaktra.

"During the meeting, the ASEAN environment ministers will discuss a wide range of issues of regional cooperation on the environment including climate change, environmentally sustainable city, biodiversity conservation, coastal and marine environment, environmental education, water resource management, chemical and hazardous waste management, transboundary haze pollution control and eco-schools," he told Xinhua.

The spokesman said the biennial meeting is expected to adopt three key documents - the draft ASEAN Joint Statement on Climate Change, the draft ASEAN Strategic Plan on the Environment, and the request to designate five national parks in Myanmar, Thailand, and Vietnam as ASEAN Heritage Parks.

Three related meetings will be held back-to-back with the 15th AMME, he said, adding that those are the 15th Meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the ASEAN Agreement on Transboundary Haze Pollution, the 16th ASEAN+3 (China, Japan and South Korea) Environment Ministers Meeting, and the ASEAN-Japan Ministerial Dialogue on the Environmental Cooperation.

Pheaktra said to mark the launching of the ASEAN Green Initiatives, the participants of the meetings will also attend a ceremony to plant Kravan flower trees in front of the famed Angkor Wat Temple.

ASEAN, established in 1967, groups Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.