Asian countries commit to better air quality

Asian nations refreshed a commitment to support initiatives to improve urban air quality, a media reported in Jakarta on Saturday.

An agreement was announced by representatives of 20 Asian governments attending the region's First Governmental Meeting on Urban Air Quality, which was held on the sidelines of the three- day Better Air Quality 2006 workshop in Yogyakarta province. The workshop ended on Friday.

Participants to the meeting came from Bangladesh, Bhutan, Brunei, China, Cambodia, India, Indonesia, Japan, South Korea, Laos, Malaysia, Mongolia, Myanmar, Nepal, Pakistan, the Philippines, Sri Lanka, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.

Among them were representatives of international organizations including the Asian Development Bank, World Bank and the World Health Organization, who acted as observers.

"I am very happy with the meeting because we have reached a common understanding on what to do in the future to deal with air quality management," Dana A. Kartakusuma, deputy director of technology and sustainable development at the Indonesian Environment Ministry was quoted by the Jakarta Post as saying.

Source: Xinhua