1. The 17th meeting of the Republic of Korea-Japan Joint Committee on Environmental Cooperation will take place in Tokyo on May 13 and 14.

◦ The ROK delegation to the meeting will be led by Deputy Director-General for Global Economic Affairs Lee Hyung-jong of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and comprised of officials from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Ministry of Environment and the Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries.

◦ The Japanese delegation will be headed by Deputy Director-General for Global Issues Hideaki Mizukoshi of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and include working-level officials from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of the Environment.

2. The forthcoming meeting of the Joint Committee will cover ways to work together on environmental issues between the two countries as well as in Northeast Asia and the global community.

◦ The two sides will consult on matters of mutual concern, such as ways to reduce and manage marine litter and to step up environmental cooperation in the region through the North-East Asian Subregional Programme for Environmental Cooperation (NEASPEC) and the Northwest Pacific Action Plan (NOWPAP).

◦ Also on the agenda will be ways for the two countries to work together toward the establishment of a new climate regime and on follow-up measures to the 12th meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity and the seventh World Water Forum held in the ROK in 2014 and 2015, respectively.

3. In addition, the two delegations will review the progress in the eleven cooperation projects conducted over the past year and consult with each other to seek out new necessary projects.

4. The ROK-Japan Joint Committee on Environmental Cooperation has convened in the two countries on an annual and rotational basis since 1994 pursuant to the bilateral Agreement on Cooperation in the Field of Environment Protection concluded in 1993. In Joint Committee meetings, the two sides have sought to better understand each other’s environment policies and step up substantive cooperation through joint studies and exchanges of information.


* unofficial translation