BANDAR SERI BEGAWAN

BRUNEI’s capital received the ASEAN Environmentally Sustainable Cities Award 2014 last week, a statement from the Ministry of Development said yesterday.

Bandar Seri Begawan joined nine other ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) cities including Cambodia’s Battambang Municipality, Balikpapan of Indonesia, Luang Prabang of Laos, Malaysia’s Melaka, and Myanmar’s Yangon.

Other award-winning cities were San Carlos City, Negros Occidental of Philippines, Singapore’s North West District, Chiang Rai City of Thailand and Vietnam’s Hue City.

The awards recognised exemplary initiatives to keep ASEAN cities clean, green and liveable as they continue to grow as the centre of economic activities, the statement added.

The awards were presented during the 15th Informal ASEAN Ministerial Meeting on the Environment and 10th Meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the ASEAN Agreement on Transboundary Haze Pollution held in Vientiane Laos on October 30-31.

Minister of Development Yang Berhormat Pehin Orang Kaya Indera Pahlawan Dato Seri Setia Hj Suyoi Hj Osman attended the meetings, which reviewed cooperation on environmental issues, in particular actions on environmental sustainability under the ASEAN Socio-Cultural Community Blueprint.

The ministers agreed to continue to be vigilant and take additional preventive measures and immediate fire suppression in the event of any occurrence of transboundary haze in the coming months.

They also congratulated Indonesia for ratifying the ASEAN Agreement on Transboundary Haze Pollution, culminating in full ratification of the Agreement which entered into force in 2003. The Southeast Asian ministers looked forward to Indonesia’s depositing the Instrument of Ratification with the ASEAN Secretary-General.

The ministers also reviewed national, sub-regional and regional activities to address land and forest fires in the region and its associated transboundary haze pollution.

They also met their counterparts from China, Japan and South Korea during the 13th ASEAN Plus Three Environment Ministers Meeting to discuss cooperation in biodiversity, climate change, environmental education, environmental science and technology as well as environmentally sustainable cities.

The Brunei Times