1. The 22nd meeting of the Republic of Korea-China Joint Committee on Environmental Cooperation will take place in Jinan, the Chinese province of Shandong, on January 18 to discuss ways to step up environmental cooperation on the bilateral and regional levels. In conjunction with the Joint Committee meeting will come the second director-general-level dialogue between the environment ministries of the two countries on January 17.

° The ROK and Chinese delegations to the Joint Committee meeting are headed by Director-General for Climate Change and Environmental Affairs Kwon Sei-joong of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Director-General of the Department of International Cooperation Guo Jing of the Ministry of Environmental Protection, respectively.

2. In the forthcoming meeting of the Joint Committee, the two countries will share with each other their current domestic environmental policies and seek ways to work more closely together on relevant matters of mutual concern, including preventing and managing fine and yellow dust and other forms of air pollution as well as water pollution; environmental industry and technology; and responding to marine pollution.

° In addition, the two sides will exchange views on ways to increase environmental cooperation in Northeast Asia, including through such mechanisms as the North-East Asian Subregional Programme for Environmental Cooperation (NEASPEC) and the Tripartite Environment Ministers’ Meeting among the ROK, China and Japan (TEMM).

3. The ROK-China Joint Committee on Environmental Cooperation has been convened in the two countries on an annual and rotational basis pursuant to the bilateral Agreement on Environmental Cooperation concluded in 1993, implementing cooperation projects in the full range of environmental areas, including relevant technology and research on marine environment.

* unofficial translation