June 22, 1995
PROGRESS IN ENVIRONMENTAL MULTILATERAL TALKS IN AMMAN
(Communicated by the Foreign Ministry Spokesman)
The environmental working group within the framework of the
multilateral peace negotiations concluded its seventh meeting in Amman
on Wednesday, June, 21, 1995, with the feeling that it has made real
progress in implementing joint regional projects and raising the
international funds needed to advance these projects. The World Bank
reported on obtaining the necessary financing to enable work to begin on
the group's anti-desertification project. This is a joint Tunisian,
Egyptian, Israeli, Jordanian, and Palestinian project to fight the effects
of desertification in the region, and includes the establishment of five
regional centers, each dealing with a specific aspect of desertification.
The committee expressed satisfaction at the significant progress that has
been made in implementing the project on fighting pollution in the Gulf of
Eilat/Aqaba. In the framework of this project, three stations have been
set up in Aqaba, Eilat, and Nuweiba. The three stations, which will be
linked by a joint communications network, will together deal with
pollution in the waters of the Gulf. The project is being financed by the
European Union and the Japanese government. This summer, joint teams from
Israel, Egypt, and Jordan will go to Norway for intensive training.
The working group similarly discussed the establishment of two regional
environment centers in Jordan and Bahrain, a joint public network to raise
the level of environmental awareness, and how to deal with waste water and
hazardous wastes.
Crown Prince Hassan opened the joint meeting of the environmental and
water working groups. He spoke of the importance of adopting the
Environmental Code of Conduct, which was agreed upon in the framework of
the committee's work by the unanimous consent of its participants, and
called for similar codes to be adopted by the other groups in the
multilateral negotiations.