Cambodia is set to host the 15th Asean Ministerial Meeting for the Environment from October 7-11 in Siem Reap province.
Ministry of Environment spokesman Neth Pheaktra told The Post on Wednesday that the ministry and stakeholders alike are prepared to host the event but could not give additional details of the meeting.
On Tuesday, Minister of Environment Say Sam Al led coordination efforts for the ministerial meeting and other related meetings.
Pheaktra declined to reveal what Sam Al said during Tuesday’s meeting because the topics are currently under discussion.
The ministerial meeting in October will be attended by the environment ministers and other officials from the 10 Asean nations, said the Ministry of Environment’s Facebook page.
Asean secretary-general Lim Jock Hoi is scheduled to attend, it said, as are the ministers of Environment of Australia, China, India, Japan, New Zealand, Russia, South Korea and the US.
Cambodian Youth Network vice-president Sar Mory told The Post on Wednesday that he lauded the Asean ministers’ initiative to discuss and commit to protecting the environment.
Measures need not be taken merely at the national level, but also regionally and globally, he said.
“I think that the environment ministers’ meeting is good so that environmental experts and ministers of each country can draw up the legal framework and policies to monitor, review and solve environmental issues,” Mory said.
Previous mechanisms put in place by the inter-governmental organisation Mekong River Commission have not been effectively implemented, he stressed.
The ministers and experts representing each nation should have clear mechanisms to ensure the full participation of locals and strengthen partnerships with civil society groups and communities to solve regional environmental issues, he added.
On the evening of July 16, joint authorities broke open 83 containers at the Sihanoukville Autonomous Port for inspection, which revealed nearly 1,600 tonnes of plastic waste.
They determined that seventy containers, weighing 1,322 tonnes, were imported from the US and 13, weighing 270 tonnes, from Canada.
