The Meeting was officially opened by the President of the Republic of Indonesia H.E Mr. Soeharto on 16 September 1997 at the State Palace in Jakarta. He highly appreciated the close cooperation amongst ASEAN member states to overcome the various disasters, especially the bush and forest fires that raged recently. Indonesia, which has extremely vast tropical bushes and forests, has been the hardest hit by them. He expressed Indonesia's most sincere apologies to the communities of neighbouring countries who have been disturbed by the forest fires. He also conveyed a warmest congratulations to delegates from Lao PDR and Myanmar who are attending this meeting for the first time. He added that the presence of Laos and Myanmar in ASEAN made the regional grouping more aware of the diverse political, social and economic conditions of its member states. The diversity, as evidenced during the three decades of ASEAN's existence, has not hampered efforts to establish closer cooperation based on the principles of mutual respect and benefit.

The Meeting was attended by H.E Pengiran Indera Wijaya Pengiran Dr. Haji Ismail bin Pengiran Haji Damit, Minister of Development of Brunei Darussalam; H.E Mr. Sarwono Kusumaatmadja, State Minister for the Environment of the Republic of Indonesia; H.E Dr. Siene Saphangthong, Minister of Agriculture and Forestry of Lao People's Democratic Republic; H.E Datuk Law Hieng Ding, Minister of Science, Technology and the Environment of Malaysia; Honourable Mr. Victor O. Ramos, Secretary, Department of Environment and Natural Resources of the Republic of the Philippines; H.E Mr. Yeo Cheow Tong, Minister for the Environment and Minister for Health of the Republic of Singapore; Mr. Kasem Snidvongs, Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Science, Technology and Environment of the Kingdom of Thailand; H.E Prof. Chu Tuan Nha, Vice Minister of Science, Technology and Environment of Vietnam; Mr. Immanuel Robert Inkiriwang, Deputy Secretary General of ASEAN and their respective delegations. Mr. Leng Sandary, First Secretary of the Royal Embassy of Cambodia also attended the Meeting as observer.

The Meeting was chaired by H.E Mr. Sarwono Kusumaatmadja, State Minister for the Environment of the Republic of Indonesia with H.E Datuk Law Hieng Ding, Minister of Science, Technology and the Environment of Malaysia as Vice Chairman. In his opening remarks the Indonesian State Minister for the Environment specially welcomed the delegates from Lao People's Democratic Republic who participated for the first time as member of ASEAN. He explained that this year's occurrence of haze caused by land and forest fires has adversely affected the economy and quality of life of the people of Indonesia and neighbouring countries. The Meeting noted that the Indonesian Government is doing its best to prevent and control the haze situation and appreciated the understanding, assistance and cooperation of ASEAN member countries in addressing this problem. The Meeting had extensive discussions on the matter and agreed to intensify cooperation to mitigate the transboundary haze pollution among ASEAN member countries.

The Ministers endorsed the Framework to Achieve ASEAN Long-Term Environment Goals for Ambient Air and River Water Qualities as follows :

The Ministers adopted 3 flagship projects for implementation, namely the ASEAN Environment Year 2000, ASEAN Environment Awards and the ASEAN Regional Centre for Biodiversity Conservation (ARCBC).

The ASEAN Environment Year (AEY) 2000 shall carry the theme ' Our Heritage, Our Future' . The objective of the ASEAN Environment Award is to give recognition to ASEAN Environmentalists for their outstanding contributions to the protection and betterment of the environment nationally and/or regionally, through sustained and inspiring efforts.

The ARCBC aims to develop a network of institutional links among ASEAN Member Countries and between the ASEAN and the European Union partner organizations to promote biodiversity conservation and sustainable use of the region's natural resources through improved conservation and coordination among the ASEAN Governments.

The Meeting commended the ASEAN Secretariat for its excellent work in publishing the First ASEAN State of the Environment Report (SoER). The report covers a wide range of topics pertaining to natural resources management and environment protection in the ASEAN region as well as ASEAN's initiatives and future challenges in its pursuit of sustainable development.

The Ministers adopted an ASEAN Common Stand on the Framework Convention on Climate Change and the Basel Convention on the Control of Transboundary Movement of Hazardous Wastes and Their Disposal.

The Ministers held an informal discussion on global environmental issues with their respective counterparts from four ASEAN Dialogue Partner countries; namely, Senator the Honourable Robert Hill, Minister for the Environment of Australia, H.E. Mr. Takao Ohnishi, Administrative Vice Minister of the Environment Agency of Japan, H.E Mr. Gary J. Smith, Ambassador of Canada in Jakarta and Mr. Fritz H. Loebus, Deputy Resident Representative of the United Nations Development Programme in Jakarta.

The Ministers endorsed the Jakarta Declaration on Environment and Development.

The Ministers agreed to hold the 8th AMME in Malaysia in the year 2000.

The Meeting was held in the traditional spirit of ASEAN cordiality and solidarity.