Dr Balakrishnan to attend Bangkok & New York meetings on environment & climate change

SINGAPORE: Ministers of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) will review the haze and fire occurrences over the past year and identify measures needed to strengthen the region’s response to the situation.

This will take place at the 12th ASEAN Ministerial Meeting on the Environment (AMME) in Bangkok, Thailand, from 25 to 26 September.

Singapore’s Minister for the Environment and Water Resources, Dr Vivian Balakrishnan, will attend the meeting.

He’ll also meet other ASEAN environment ministers to discuss issues related to co—operation in areas such as environmental sustainability, climate change, coastal and marine environment, water resource management, as well as nature conservation.

Dr Balakrishnan will then attend the 14th Major Economies Forum (MEF) on Energy and Climate in New York, USA, on 27 September.

The MEF was initiated by the United States in 2009 and brings together 17 major economies to discuss issues relating to the international climate change negotiations under the United Nations Framework Convention for Climate Change.

Singapore, which is not a member of the MEF, has been invited along with a few other non—members to attend the meeting as a special participant.

— CNA/ck