RI, Malaysia Work Hand in Hand to Overcome Haze

Jakarta (Antara) - The Indonesian and Malaysian governments have agreed to work hand in hand to overcome the haze problem caused by forest and land fires in Riau Province. That agreement was confirmed by Indonesian Minister of Environment Balthasar Kambuaya and Malaysian Minister of Natural Resources and Environment Datuk Seri G Palanivel here on Thursday. Minister Palanivel visited Indonesia to discuss with the Indonesian official about the current development of the forest and land fire fighting and its impact in the future. Kambuaya said at the meeting with the Malaysian minister Indonesia has made efforts to overcome the fire's impacts, including efforts to enforce the law related with the forest and land regulations. "The important thing to be underlined was that Indonesia suffers damages as the impact of this forest and land fires too," he said. Hence, he asked the two countries, Indonesia and Malaysia, to work hand in hand to cope with the impacts of the fires. During the meeting, Palanivel delivered an official letter from Prime Minister of Malaysia Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak to President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono that offered help to fight the forest and land fires. According latest reports from the Ministry of Environment, some of the fires have been coped with and the condition in Riau has been gradually back to normal. In mid July 2013, Malaysia will host the Ministerial Steering Committee of Trans-boundary Haze that will be participated in by Indonesia, Singapore, Brunei Darussalam, and Thailand. (*)