BANGKOK, July 10 (TNA) – ASEAN is drafting a joint
statement for the 25th session of the Conference of the Parties (COP 25) in
Chile during the 30th Meeting of ASEAN Senior Officials on the
Environment (ASOEN) in Bangkok.
Thailand, as ASEAN chair, is hosting the 30th ASOEN, a
mechanism under ASEAN’s framework for cooperation on environment, bringing
senior officials to discuss regional environment issues and implementation of
collective environment policies at the annual meeting from July 8-12.
Permanent Secretary of Thailand’s Ministry of Natural
Resources and Environment Wijarn Simachaya said Thailand had proposed a draft
joint statement for the consideration of member states.
The meeting came after the ASEAN Summit last month that
highlighted environmental protection and climate change. Like the Summit, the ASOEN was organized with
eco-friendly green meeting concept, Wijarn said on Wednesday.
Another top topic of the ASOEN is nominations of ASEAN
Heritage Parks. Thailand had nominated
Hat Chao Mai National Park, Ko Libong Wildlife Sanctuary, and Mu Koh Angthong
National Marine Park, Wijarn said, in its bid to receive academic support on
management for the three sites.
The 10 ASEAN member countries are also drafting a joint
statement for the 15th meeting of the Conference of the Parties (COP 15) to the
Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), to be hosted by Kunming, China, in
October next year.
ASEAN’s statement would layout proposals for biodiversity
protection action plan, he said.
This year ASEAN officials also met the European counterparts
in a High-Level Dialogue on Environment and Climate Change on Tuesday. ASEAN and the EU reaffirmed the commitment to
strengthen cooperation on shared regional and global challenges related to
protection of the environment and climate change.
Over 200 delegates from ASEAN countries and dialogue
partners are attending the event at The Sukosol Bangkok Hotel.(TNA)
