MESSAGE MINISTER FOR THE ENVIRONMENT
SINGAPORE

Last year at the World Summit on Sustainable Development held in Johannesburg, the global community reaffirmed its collective commitment to tackle the challenge of sustainable development with constructive actions through concrete partnerships.  

This theme for the ASEAN Environment Year 2003 - “Together Towards Sustainable Development” - is therefore most appropriate.  It reflects the shared commitment of ASEAN as a region to enhance environmental sustainability in our region, and our common desire to further strengthen the close co-operation that ASEAN has enjoyed on many fronts.  For example, our collective will to bring the ASEAN Agreement on Trans-boundary Haze Pollution into force show clearly our seriousness in striving for a haze-free environment.  This, and other co-operative initiatives, will play an instrumental role in bringing ASEAN another step closer to realizing the ideals of sustainable development.

Singapore is committed to play its part in our collective strive for environmental sustainability. Under the Singapore Green Plan 2012, we have set ourselves a series of major targets for the next 10 years to conserve resources, minimize waste and maximize recycling.  Besides adapting best practices of other countries for application in Singapore, we also seek to collaborate with fellow developing countries to help spread the adoption and adaptation of these best practices in our region and beyond. This will help speed up the pace of capacity building in the developing world. 

Sustainable development is not an unattainable goal.  By learning and working together, member nations of ASEAN can speed up the pace of capacity building in our individual countries, our region and across the globe.

In closing, I would like to offer my heartiest congratulations to the Government and people of the Kingdom of Cambodia for the successful staging of the ASEAN Environment Year 2003.

H.E MR LIM SWEE SAY
Minister for the Environment
SINGAPORE