IL-MINISTRU GĦALL-AMBJENT F?TAĦDITIET F?ĊIPRU

Il-Ministru ghall-Ambjent, Francis Zammit Dimech nhar il-Hamis, 3 ta' Mejju, 2001 indirizza il-Bureau tal-Contracting Parties to the Convention for the Protection of the Mediterranean Sea Against Pollution and its Protocols li qed jiltaqa' f'Nicosia, Ċipru.

Il-Ministru Francis Zammit Dimech, li hu l-Prersident tal-Bureau, qal li jidher li kien intlaħaq ftehim unanimu li jkun hemm Protokol ta' Emergenza 'did flok wieħed rivedut. Dan qed isir biex ji'bor l-iżviluppi li sehhew f'dan il-qasam fl-aħħar snin. Hu qal li l-Protokoll ta' Emergenza 'did se jpo''i fuq ir-REMPEC sfidi 'odda.

Il-Ministru għall-Ambjent tkellem ukoll dwar il-preparazzjonijiet li qed isiru għas-Summit ta' Johannesburg dwar l-Iżvilupp Sostenibbli, li se tiltaqa' fi żmien erbatax il-xahar. Hu qal li bħala parti mill-proċess preparatorju l-iStrate'iċ Review għall-Mediterran, li ji'bor l-ambjent kif ukoll il-ħsibijiet tal-Bureau dwar l-iżvilupp sostenibbli, għandu jwassal għal ‘Orjentamenti Strate'iċi', jew qafas u linji gwida għall-preparazzjoni ta' Strate'ija Mediterranja għal Żvilupp Sostenibbli li għandu jifforma sehem importanti fl-Istate'ija Globali.

Tul iz-zjara tieghu f'Cipru il-Ministru Francis Zammit Dimech kellu laqgħat ma' Costas Themistocleous, l-Ministru Ciprijott ta' l-Agrikoltura, Risorsi Naturali u Ambjent. F'dawn il-laqghat tkellmu dwar ħidma bilaterali u kooperazzjoni aħjar fil-qasam ambjentali. Huma iddiskutew ukoll is-sħubija taż-żew' pajjiżi fl-Unjoni Ewropea.

THE MINISTER FOR THE ENVIRONMENT IN TALKS IN CYPRUS

The Minister for the Environment, Francis Zammit Dimech on Thursday, 3^rd May, 2001 delivered an opening speech to the Bureau of the Contracting Parties to the Convention for the Protection of the Mediterranean Sea against Pollution and its Protocols. The Bureau is meeting in Nicosia, Cyprus.

Minister Francis Zammit Dimech, who is the President of the Bureau, said that he understood that the unanimous recommendation from the Meeting was to the effect that a new rather than a revised Emergency Protocol needs to adopted. This was being done to take into account all the developments that have taken place in this field over the past years. He added that the new Emergency Protocol will in particular spell out new challenges to REMPEC.

The Minister for the Environment also spoke of the preparations now in progress for the Johannesburg Summit on Sustainable Development due to meet in around fourteen months time. He said that as stakeholders in the preparatory process he believed it was the bureau's task to input to the World Summit the particular Mediterranean dimension. He noted that in this process the ‘Strategic Review' for the Mediterranean, summarizing our environment as well as our own perspectives on sustainable development should lead to ‘Strategic Orientations', or a framework and guidelines for the preparation of the Mediterranean Strategy for Sustainable Development which would be an important input into the World Strategy.

During his visit in Cyprus Minister Francis Zammit Dimech met Costas Themistocleous, the Cypriot Minister of Agriculture, Natural Resources and Environment. During this meeting both ministers spoke about bilateral cooperation in the environmental field. They also discussed their countries' future membership of the European Union.