The Tenth Meeting of the ASEAN Senior Officials on the Environment (ASOEN) was held from 15 to 16 September 1999 in Bangkok. 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.

The Meeting reviewed the Terms of Reference and proposed activities of the restructured ASEAN Working Groups on Nature Conservation and Biodiversity, Coastal and Marine Environment, Multilateral Environmental Agreements as well as on-going activities of the Haze Technical Task Force and provided guidance in the development of their future programmes and projects.

The Meeting discussed the draft ASEAN Strategic Plan of Action on the Environment (SPAE) for the period of 1999 to 2004, to support the environmental components of the Hanoi Plan of Action. The activities of the SPAE are grouped into the following main areas:

• Land/Forest Fires and Haze,
  
• Nature Conservation and Biodiversity,
  
• Coastal and Marine Environment,
  
• Multilateral Environment Issues, and
  
• Other Environment Activities.

This Plan is expected to be presented for consideration at the next Informal ASEAN Ministerial Meeting on the Environment which will be hosted by Thailand towards the end of 1999.

The Meeting endorsed the preparation of the Second ASEAN State of the Environment Report (SoER) for publication in 2000 and requested the ASEAN Secretariat to proceed with its implementation. The Meeting approved a list of core parameters for the harmonization of environmental information databases within ASEAN and agreed to start compiling the relevant data from the year 2000 onwards.

The Meeting noted the handing over of ASOEN Chairmanship from Mr. Tan Gee Paw, Permanent Secretary, Ministry of the Environment of Singapore to Mr. Sunthad Somchevita, Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Science, Technology and Environment of Thailand. Thailand will hold the Chairmanship of ASOEN for the next 3 years.

The next ASOEN Meeting will be held in Vietnam in 2000.