Kuwait oil minister: GCC environmental meeting marked with consensus

KUWAIT, Oct 23 (KUNA) -- Minister of Oil and President of the Supreme Environmental Council Dr. Tareq Al-Roumi on Thursday said the 27th meeting of the GCC environment officials concluded with full consensus and 18 recommendations related to international treaties.
Al-Roumi, speaking on the meeting sidelines, said the conferees affirmed necessity that the GCC states continue to act as a single team at all international conferences and forums regarding environmental issues.
The officials agreed on setting an annual meeting for Gulf technicians in the environmental sphere to unify the rhetoric with respect of various environmental issues, the minister said, while affirming necessity to pursue joint action to reach the aspired goals and common resolve to implement recommendations released in the end of the meeting.
Meanwhile, Acting Director General of the Environment Public Authority Nof Behbehani said in a statement that among the key recommendations was approval of forming a Gulf center for environmental studies and climatic change, to be headquartered in Oman.
Behbehani added that she and her peers approved a draft of the joint system for the waste materials subject to the Montreal Protocol and completing joint statistical tasks to prepare for setting the Gulf environmental index.
Moreover, they agreed to complete administrative and financial procedures to conduct a survey of air quality and its impact on humankind public health in the GCC countries in addition to allocating an award for successful environmental and ecological tasks, to be granted every two years.
They also expressed support for Oman during its chairmanship of the seventh session of the UN environmental assembly, due in early December, affirmed the unified stands vis a vis international treaties concerning plastic waste, desertification and climatic change. (pickup previous) zhr.rk