Environment officials of China, Japan, S Korea agree to tighten control of dangerous waste

TOKYO, Dec. 5 (Xinhua) -- Chinese, Japanese and South Korean senior environmental officials agreed on Thursday to strengthen trilateral cooperation on preventing the illegal cross-border transfer of dangerous waste.

The consensus was reached by Japanese Environment Minister Ichiro Kamoshita, South Korean Environment Minister Lee Kyoo Yong and Chinese Vice Environment Minister Li Ganjie on the 9th annual meeting of environment ministers from the three countries held in central Japan's Toyama city.

According to a press release of the Chinese delegation, the topic of dealing with dangerous waste was raised by the Chinese side and won active response from both Japan and South Korea.

Participants believed that strengthened cooperation in this field will improve the three countries' management on import and export of waste and accelerate related lawmaking process, the press release said.

During the two-day meeting from Tuesday, senior environment officials discussed hot topics such as sand storm, world climate change and environmental cooperation with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations.

Li Ganjie said on a press conference Wednesday that environmental cooperation is an important part of China, Japan and South Korea's overall cooperation. He said China is happy to see that the institution of the annual meeting, which was first held in 1999, has grown mature and has drawn enough attention.

The 10th meeting will be held in South Korea in 2008.