UNITED NATIONS ECO-PARTNERSHIP WORKSHOP OPENS IN KUALA LUMPUR, MALAYSIA BRINGING TOGETHER MAYORS, ENVIRONMENTAL DIRECTORS FROM AFRICA, ASIA

Press Release
DEV/2224

UNITED NATIONS ECO-PARTNERSHIP WORKSHOP OPENS IN KUALA LUMPUR, MALAYSIA BRINGING TOGETHER MAYORS, ENVIRONMENTAL DIRECTORS FROM AFRICA, ASIA

KUALA LUMPUR, 23 November (DESA) -- The United Nations Workshop on Eco-partnership opened today, 23 November, in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, and will remain open until 26 November. The Workshop is being attended by Mayors and Governors of selected large metropolitan cities from Africa and Asia, including Addis Ababa, Bangkok, Dar es Salaam, Jakarta, Johannesburg, Kuala Lumpur, Lagos, Marikina, Nairobi, Phnom Penh and Tokyo, as well as their environmental directors and city planners, academicians and representatives of major private sector firms and non- governmental organizations. The United Nations Department for Economic and Social Affairs (DESA), the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the Tokyo Metropolitan Government jointly organized the Workshop.

In his opening remarks, the Mayor of Kuala Lumpur, Tan Sri Kamaruzzaman Bin Shariff, expressed his appreciation to the United Nations and the Tokyo Metropolitan Government for their initiative and support in enabling such a gathering. Statements made by the representative of DESA, UNDP and the Tokyo Metropolitan Government echoed the importance of such collaboration in combating the degradation of urban environment.

The Workshop is a follow-up activity to the Africa-Asia eco- partnership study programme that took place in Bangkok and Tokyo in July 1999. The main objective of the workshop is to explore ways and means of building an eco-society that will minimize the burden on the environment and enable sustainable human development in the participating cities.

During the next four days, the participants will review the activities carried out by each city since last July, as agreed under the Joint Statement which was issued in Tokyo on 23 July 1999 by the participating Mayors and Governors at the conclusion of the first study programme. The participants will also review activities that have so far been undertaken to strengthen the participation of the private sector and community organizations in combating environmental degradation and to sensitize the public on the importance of "clean city" through campaigns for "clean water", "clean street" and "clean air". Participants will also discuss major constraints encountered by each city in the sensitization campaign, in building partnership among the stakeholders, as well as in establishing environmental policies.

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In addition, the participants will discuss in detail the individual action plans prepared by each city and explore ways and means of implementing them. This includes identifying the necessary resources to implement the plan of actions of each city, mobilizing support for partnership building among the participating African and Asian cities and facilitating the creation of twining arrangement by bringing together interested cities and assisting them in establishing such a partnership. The main objective of such a partnership is to institute a mechanism which will be used in the future to transfer knowledge and experience through feasibility studies, study tours, individual and group training programmes, sensitization campaigns and information networking.

The Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corporation (NTT Group) of Tokyo, which has been one of the major supporters of the Eco-partnership programme from the private sector, will televise the deliberations of the Workshop on the Web-site so that other cities that did not have a chance to attend this Workshop could benefit from it. The televised Web site will facilitate further the transfer of knowledge and expertise in combating the environmental degradation among interested cities through exchange of ideas, experiences, and best practices. Please go to Web- site and click "internet broadcast" to access the live televised broadcast.

For more information contact Itoko Suzuki, Chief Governance and Public Administration Branch, Division for Public Economics and Public Administration, DESA or Atnafu Almaz (tel. 1-212-963-8378, fax 1-212- 963-2916, e-mail or and web-site )

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