The Ninth Meeting of the ASEAN Senior Officials on the Environment (ASOEN) was held from 23 to 25 September 1998 in Singapore. The Meeting was chaired by Mr Tan Gee Paw, Permanent Secretary, Ministry of the Environment, Singapore and attended by delegates from all ASEAN Member countries and the ASEAN Secretariat.

2. The Meeting reviewed the activities of the ASEAN Working Groups on Nature Conservation; ASEAN Seas and Marine Environment; Transboundary Pollution; Environmental Management; Enviromnental Economics; and Environmental Information, Public Awareness and Education. The Meeting also deliberated on the restructuring of the ASOEN Working Groups and agreed that they should focus on issues of priority such as transboundary haze, nature conservation and biodiversity, coastal and marine environment, and multilateral environmental agreements rather than be projects-oriented.

3. The Meeting also exchanged views on matters pertaining to various international conventions and protocols relating to the environment, namely Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer, Basel Convention on the Control of Transboundary Movements of Hazardous Wastes and their Disposal. Framework Convention on Climate Change, Convention on Biological Diversity and the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands of International Importance.

4. The Meeting noted that ASEAN Leaders had adopted the ASEAN Vision 2020 Statement at the last ASEAN Informal Summit in Dec 97 and that "Environment and Sustainable Development" was identified as one of the priority areas under this vision statement. At their next Summit in Hanoi, ASEAN Leaders would be endorsing the first of a series of six-year Plan of Action to implement the ASEAN Vision 2020. The Meeting discussed the draft action plan and exchanged views on the environment components of the Hanoi Plan of Action.

5. The Meeting noted with appreciation the work of the ASEAN Haze Technical Task Force (HTTP), chaired by Indonesia, in addressing the issue of transboundary haze pollution.

6. The Meeting noted that the HTTF has put into operation the Regional Haze Action Plan (RHAP) - from the formulation of the RHAP in Dec 97, to the setting up of the Sub-Regional Fire-fighting Arrangements (RFA) Working Groups for Sumatra and Borneo in April 98, to the launch of a trial run on aerial surveillance in Riau, Sumatra in July 98. These programmes have demonstrated ASEAN's commitment to address the forest fires and haze problem in a practical manner.

7. The Meeting noted that the next Informal ASEAN Ministerial Meeting on the Environment is scheduled to be held in mid November 1998 in Hanoi, Vietnam.

8. The next ASOEN meeting will be held in Thailand in July 1999.