- Title: UAE: ENVIRONMENT EXHIBITION OPENS IN ABU DHABI.
- Date: 4th February 2001
- Summary: ABU DHABI, UNITED ARAB EMIRATES (FEBRUARY 3, 2001) (REUTERS) 1. SLV MEETING ROOM AT THE INTER-CONTINENTAL HOTEL IN ABU-DHABI 0.10 2. GV/MV: FROM LEFT TO RIGHT, PRINCE FAHAD BIN ABDULLAH AL SUOOD, DEPUTY MINISTER OF DEFENCE OF SAUDI ARABIA, CHAIRMAN OF THE CAMRE, THE COUNCIL OF THE ARAB MINISTERS RESPONSIBLE FOR THE ENVIRONMENT, EXECUTIVE OFFICE, MAURITANIAN MINISTER OF RURAL DEVELOPMENT AND ENVIRONMENT, AHMAD WILD HAMMADI, MINISTER OF HEALTH OF UNITED ARAB EMIRATES, MOHAMMED ABDUL RAHMAN AL MADFAA (2 SHOTS) 0.21 3. SV: MV JOURNALISTS AT THE MEETING 0.25 4. MV: PRINCE FAHAD BIN ABDULLAH AL SUOOD, DEPUTY MINISTER OF DEFENCE OF SAUDI ARABIA, CHAIRMAN OF THE CAMRE, THE COUNCIL OF THE ARAB MINISTERS RESPONSIBLE FOR THE ENVIRONMENT SPEAKING (NO SOUNDBITE) 0.33 5. GV: DELEGATES APPLAUD 0.39 6. MCU: (SOUNDBITE) (English) KLAUS TOPFER U.N. ENVIRONMENT PROGRAMME, UNEP, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, SAYING "I sincerely hope that we can finalise in this conference all the ministers of the Arab world, a new environmental programme for the region. We were very glad for the United Nations Programme to be directly integrated to signal out the state of the environment." 0.56 7. GV/PAN/MV: PRESS CONFERENCE AT THE INTER-CONTINENTAL HOTEL'S AUDITORIUM ANNOUNCING THE APPROVAL OF THE ABU DHABI DECLARATION; MV MEETING (2 SHOTS) 1.09 8. MV: DR. MOHAMMED KAMAL TOLBA, THE EX GENERAL SECRETARY OF UN ENVIRONMENT COMMITTEE 1.15 11. VARIOUS: RACHID ALI, CONVENOR OF MEETING READING DECLARATION; PARTICIPANTS CUTAWAYS (6 SHOTS) 1.59 ABU DHABI, UNITED ARAB EMIRATES (FEBRUARY 4, 2001) (REUTERS) 12. MV/PAN: MV ARRIVAL OF PRINCE ABDULLAH BIN ZAYED AL NAHYAN AT ABU DHABI EXHIBITION CENTRE 2.06 13. CU: PRINCE FAHAD BIN ABDULLAH AL SUOOD, DEPUTY MINISTER OF DEFENCE OF SAUDI ARABIA, CHAIRMAN OF THE CAMRE, THE COUNCIL OF THE ARAB MINISTERS RESPONSIBLE FOR THE ENVIRONMENT 2.09 14. VARIOUS: PRINCE ABDULLAH BIN ZAYED AL NAHYAN; SLV CONFERENCE; SCU HOLY CORAN VERSUS; SLV CONFERENCE; SCU PRINCE SPEAKING; SLV CONFERENCE; MV PRINCE OPENING THE EXHIBITION (10 SHOTS) 2.59 15. GV/TV: EXHIBITION CENTRE (5 SHOTS) 3.27 Initials Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved
- Embargoed: 19th February 2001 12:00
- Keywords:
- Location: ABU DHABI, UNITED ARAB EMIRATES
- Country: United Arab Emirates
- Reuters ID: LVA91FCXNCQM0U08MKEA7IS4NSX9
- Story Text: The Environment 2001 Exhibition and Conference started
on February 3, with the meeting of the Arab World Environment
Ministers gathered in Abu Dhabi, capital of the United Arab
Emirates. The ministers signed the Abu Dhabi Declaration on
the Future of the Arab Environment Programme calling for new
commitment to sustainable development.
The Arab ministers responsible for the environment met
in a special session of the Council of the Arab Ministers
Responsible for the Environment (CAMRE) on Saturday (February
3), the day before the inauguration of the Environment 2001
Conference and Exhibition, in Abu Dhabi, capital of the United
Arab Emirates.
At the meeting, the environment ministers endorsed a
wide-ranging set of commitments to ensure that economic
development in their countries is not at the expense of the
environment.
During an address to the Council, the UAE Health Minister
Hamad Abdul Rahman Al Midfa drew the attention of the 19
ministers of environmental affairs and heads of Arab
environmental protection agencies attending the extraordinary
meeting of the Council of Arab Ministers Responsible for
Environment, to the environmental problems posing a major
challenge for decision makers in the Arab World.
Beside the Arab ministers the meeting was attended by the
UN Environment Programme, UNEP Executive Director Klaus
Topfer, Prince Fahd Bin Abdullah, Deputy Defence Minister to
Saudi Arabia and Chairman of the CAMRE Executive Office.
Topfer said "I sincerely hope that they can finalise in
this conference all the ministers of the Arab world, a new
environmental programme for the region. We were very glad for
the United Nations Programme to be directly integrated and
signal out the state of the environment."
On Saturday night the Arab ministers approved the
so-called Abu Dhabi Declaration, seeing it as a blueprint for
a co-ordinated regional approach to protect the environment
against rising population, scarcity of water and a
deterioration of coastal and marine areas.
"Our environmental protection agencies are still young and
of limited experience and are facing truly difficult and
complex challenges," the declaration said.
It called for more effective policies to halt
environmental degradation, efficient use of renewable and
non-renewable resources and implement modern techniques in the
protection of the environment.
But the officials said the task was daunting and will take
time in a region that had been savaged by several wars and
continuing territorial disputes, a chronic water shortage and
the lack of public awareness.
A report on the status of Arab environment said the Arab
population rose threefold in the past 50 years to around 288
million and was rising at a higher rate than the world's
average.
"The total is expected to reach 466 million by 2025,
adding to the economic and social burdens and building up
pressure on natural resources," it said.
Noting that the Arab countries have limited number of
environmental specialists and young institutions facing
difficult and complex challenges, the ministers called for
capacity building through education at all levels, further
development of institutions and improving the quality of
scientific research institutions.
The Mauritanian Minister of Rural Development and
Environment, also President of the CAMRE Ahmadi Wild Hammadi
said at the presser there was a need to develop a strategy
for sustainable consumption of resources.
The meeting of the ministers three months after the
meeting in Cairo in November proves the Arab countries'
determination for the environmental concerns, said Hammadi. He
also said that they need some time to get concrete results and
overcome the difficulties.
The Environment 2001 Conference's official inauguration
took place on February 4, with the verses of the Holy Koran,
citing the lines, "He is (God) the one who sent the water from
heaven to you", in reference to the water problem facing the
region.
Then Prince Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan, the UAE Minister
for Information and Culture addressed the participants on
behalf of his father. President Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al
Nahyan at the General Exhibition Corporation, on the same day
of the UAE's National Environment Day.
The Prince said the protection of environment is far from
being a fashionable slogan but a necessity and a reality. Then
Chairman of Abu Dhabi Chamber of Commerce and Industry made a
speech to welcome the ministers and exhibitors stating the
conference as the major event of its kind in the Middle East.
The inauguration of the exhibition by the Prince Abdullah
bin Zayed Al Nahyan followed the speeches.
More than 30 countries with 350 exhibitors are
participating in the Environment 2001 Exhibition and
Conference, in Abu Dhabi between February 4 and February 8.
The 350 companies participating to the exhibition will
showcase the latest products in environmental production,
combating industrial pollution, water resource detection, air
filtering and waste recycling.
Among the participant countries, Germany, France, United
Kingdom, Sweden and Canada will have national pavilions.
A special feature of the event is the innovative Projects
Village where countries from the Middle East and Africa will
present their environmental projects.
Alongside the exhibition, the three-day conference
starting in February 5 will focus on several environmental
issues including environmental programme for sustainable
development , water resources management, global fisheries and
aquaculture, oil and gas vis-Ã -vis the environment, financial
environmental projects, industrial ecology, environmental
management and regulation in the oil and gas industry,
desertification.
Organised by ERWDA, Environmental Research and Wildlife
Development Agency, the conference is being held under the
theme of "Challenges and Solutions for Sustainable
Development". Among the participants to the conference there
are the representatives of key international organisations
such as UN Development Programme, INEP and the World Wide Fund
for Nature as well as scientists.
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