Mr. Kakakhel's discussions with Chinese officials will cover on-going cooperation in key environmental fields including cleaner production and capacity building for addressing environmental impacts of industrialization and China's contribution to the UNEP Regional Seas Programme. He will also discuss activities by UNEP as an implementing agency of the Global Environmental Facility (GEF) and the implementation of UNEP's work programme through a more effective role of UNEP's Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific.
Mr. Kakakhel will represent UNEP at the opening ceremony of the 1999 International Horticultural Exposition in Kunming, on 1 May 1999.
The visit to China by the UNEP Deputy comes shortly after the Second Session of the U.S.-China Policy Forum on Environment and Development, held in Washington D.C., earlier this month, where a number of important environmental agreements were signed.
"UNEP welcomes the agreements reached at the U.S.-China Policy Forum which cover, among other things, the export of environmental technology, greater investment in the Chinese energy sector, and steps towards reducing greenhouse gas emissions in China," said Kakakhel. "Made at a bi-lateral level, these agreements will make an important contribution to the future safeguarding of the global environment," he said.
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For more information please contact:
Tore J. Brevik,
UNEP Spokesman and Director of the Communications and Public Information Branch,
Nairobi, Kenya,
on tel: (254-2) 623292, Fax: 623692,
Email: tore.brevik@unep.org
UNEP Information Note 1999/14