Workshop on combating haze

Workshop on combating haze

MANILA (AFP): Southeast Asian governments and international
donors are to hold a workshop here next week to step up
cooperation in fighting haze from forest fires of the sort which
enveloped the area last year, the organizers said yesterday.

The Manila-based Asian Development Bank announced it would
host the Sept. 1 and Sept. 2 Association of Southeast Asian
Nations (ASEAN) meeting.

"A regional haze plan will be presented during the workshop to
formalize cooperation among ASEAN countries affected by the haze
that engulfed much of the region last year, causing the worst
pollution ever recorded in Asia," the bank said in a statement.

The meeting will be attended by officials from ASEAN member
countries Brunei, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the
Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam as well as
"international institutions and concerned donor agencies", it
added.