LOC16:40
13:40 GMT
(with photos)
CAIRO, Dec 5 (KUNA) -- The Arab Environment Ministers Council kicked off
its 19th session at the headquarters of Arab League here Wednesday, with
Kuwait participating.
The Kuwaiti delegation to the session is led by Assistant Undersecretary of
the Ministry of Social Affairs and Labor for Social Care Dr. Jassem Ashkinani.
The meeting is scheduled to probe major environment issues in the forefront
of which is the Arab Declaration on Climate Change.
The meeting has to focus on the issues that will be dealt with by the Arab
economic summit, due in Kuwait in late 2008, Secretary General of the Arab
League Amr Moussa told the opening session.
"It has to coordinate positions of the Arab countries participating in the
conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on
Climate Change (UNFCCC) (in session in Bali, Indonesia between December 3 and
14)," Moussa asserted.
"The Arab region is one of the worst-affected regions in world by climate
change.
"There are conflicting interests of the major industrialized countries and
the developing countries, including the Arab ones in this regard," Moussa
added.
He urged solving the conflict in the framework of interests rather than
showdown and taking into account that climate changes endangered the existence
of whole countries.
Meanwhile, chairman of the current session of the Arab Environment
Ministers Council and Tunisian Minister of Environment Sustainable
Development Nadhir Hamada highlighted in his speech to the session the risks
posed by greenhouse gases to natural resources, food security, public health,
and sustainable development.
He urged the Arab governments to make concerted efforts to ensure the
welfare of their peoples.
Chief of the Executive Bureau of the Arab Environment Ministers Council
Prince Turki Bin-Nasser Bin-Abdul-Aziz called on the Arab countries to work
together to solve the draught, land degeneration, and desertification in the
light of the studies developed by the Arab Center for the Studies of Arid
Zones and Dry Lands (ACSAD). (end)
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