Malaysia’s acting Natural Resources and Environmental Sustainability Minister1, Johari Abdul Ghani, said the talks aimed at establishing a framework for environmental cooperation, boost capacity building and technology transfer, and explore synergies to address shared challenges.

Among these, Johari mentioned plastic pollution, biodiversity loss, and climate change, which have been on the agenda of successive meetings of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN).

Malaysia currently chairs the regional bloc, also consisting of Indonesia, Singapore, Thailand, the Philippines, Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, Brunei, and Myanmar.

From circular economy initiatives to marine environmental protection, from biodiversity conservation to climate resilience, our agenda shows the breadth and depth of cooperation possible between our regions, the minister stated.

The challenges we face, whether ending plastic pollution, protecting our oceans, or strengthening climate resilience, demand collective action that goes beyond geographical boundaries. Today, we begin to build that collective response, Johari stated in his opening speech.

jdt/iff/npg/msm