QNA/Doha
Doha hosted the 35th meeting of the undersecretaries responsible for environmental affairs in the Gulf Co-operation Council (GCC) at the Ritz-Carlton Hotel yesterday.
The two-day meeting discusses a number of issues, including co-operation with the United Nations Environment Programme, Regional Office for West Asia, and the Regional Organisation for the Protection of the Marine Environment and the World Bank, in addition to co-operation in the framework of the strategic dialogue with Turkey, Jordan and Morocco.
The meeting addresses a study to establish the GCC Environmental Monitoring Centre and the working group in charge of studying the developments of the United Nations Convention on Climate Change, the Kyoto Protocol, the Vienna Convention for the Protection of the Ozone Layer, and the Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer as well as the GCC environment and wildlife award.
Other topics for discussions include GCC network for land degradation studies, Sultan Qaboos Prize for environmental and human affairs, promotion of environmental education in school curricula in GCC countries as well as the unification of the environmental affairs’ meetings in the GCC states and the GCC Framework convention on environmental protection and the inclusion of the environment meetings’ documentation in the GCC website, the GCC environmental electronic website project, and the Gulf green initiative projects for the environment and sustainable development.
The meeting was inaugurated by assistant undersecretary of the Environment Ministry for Environmental Affairs Ahmed Mohamed al-Sada.
In his remarks, al-Sada said that the meeting comes few days before the celebration of the 34th anniversary of the establishment of the GCC. One of the major achievements of the organisation is the joint strategy to protect the environment in the GCC countries and to maintain the sustainability of natural resources in order to meet the aspirations of the peoples in achieving sustainable development and promoting economic and social progress and stability.
He outlined the importance of issues included in the meeting’s agenda.
