Thailand hosted the 11th Meeting of the Subregional Ministerial Steering Committee on Transboundary Haze Pollution in the Mekong Subregion online yesterday. The meeting was attended by representatives of Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand and Viet Nam in the Greater Mekong Subregion (GMS), representatives from the ASEAN secretary-general office and representatives of the ASEAN Specialized Meteorological Centre (ASMC).
The Director-General from the Environmental Conservation Department under the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environmental Conservation led a Myanmar delegation including senior officials from the Forest Department, the Department of Agriculture, the Department of Fire Services, the Meteorology and Hydrology Department and the Department of Disaster Management and attended the meeting.
The purpose of the meeting was to discuss the implementation activities for the ASEAN Agreement on Transboundary Haze Pollution (AATHP) and perform preventive activities on transboundary haze pollution in order to be implemented by the country. Deputy Permanent Secretary Mr Thalearnsak Petchusuwan of the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment (Thailand) chaired the meeting and the MNRE Minister (Thailand) gave the opening speech via video message.
The ASMC presented the formation of fire hotspots and haze within the ASEAN region in 2022, weather conditions, the drawing of a new roadmap on ASEAN cooperation towards transboundary haze pollution control 2022-2030 by the ASEAN secretary-general office, the development of the new ASEAN Peatland Management Strategy 2022-2030, and transboundary haze pollution reduction measures of the Mekong Subregion countries, implementation measures of the Chiang Rai Work Plan 2017, and development of cooperation with international partners which were discussed at the 17th meeting of Technical Working Group on Transboundary Haze Pollution in Mekong Subregion.
Afterwards, Myanmar presented the regional reduction activities on transboundary haze pollution, conditions of cooperation with international partner organizations and business plans for proceeding with regional reduction activities. — MNA
