A senior official from the national environmental
watchdog said on Monday that China will cooperate more closely with
Asian and Pacific countries to crack down on the illegal trade of
ozone depleting substances (ODS).
"The move is in line with China's pledge to curb
the smuggling of ODS," said Zhu Guangyao, vice director of the
State Environmental Protection Administration (SEPA).
He made the remarks at the opening ceremony of a
coordination workshop for customs and ODS officers in South Asia,
Southeast Asia and Pacific region, sponsored by the UN Environment
Program (UNEP) and SEPA.
More than 70 customs and ODS officers from 39
countries attended the event, which aimed to improve regional
cooperation for control and monitoring of ODS trade.
Zhu said that to deal with the illegal trade, the
Ministry of Commerce and the General Administration of Customs has
established an office and adopted measures including import and
export quotas and a licensing system.
Meanwhile, marked progress has been made in the
training of customs officers and capacity building for the
management of ODS import and export, he said.
Zhu said he expected inspection equipment to be
installed at customs with the help of international aid to
facilitate detection of ODS.
China will also speed up the establishment of a
national electronic information network to monitor the trade so
that any smuggling activities could be discovered in time, he
said.
Zhu believed the workshop would provide a good
opportunity for countries to enhance cooperation in checking the
illegal ODS trade.
Also speaking at the ceremony, Monique Barbut,
director of UNEP's Division of Technology, Industry and Economics,
said that the task of controlling illegal ODS trade was not simple
because such trade was on the increase.
The UNEP has launched Green Customs Initiative's
work plan for 2004 and 2005, which includes the organization of
integrated customs training workshops in each region. For the Asia
region, a workshop will be organized in Bhutan in the fall of this
year.
"Several countries in the Asian region will be
invited to attend the training, for which the final details still
need to be finalized," said Barbut.
After the opening ceremony, a memorandum of
understanding was signed by Liu Xiaohui, head of the Beijing-based
Regional Intelligence Liaison Office of the World Customs
Organization, and Surendra Shrestha, director of the UNEP Regional
Office for Asia and the Pacific.
It is aimed at further cooperation on information
exchange, law enforcement and technical assistance.
The SEPA also said on Monday that environmental
management of dangerous waste materials will begin on a trial basis
in five cities: Chongqing, Shenyang, Wuhan, Xi'an and Harbin.
An official said Harbin, Shenyang and Shanghai had
already taken measures, however, "with too many units producing
waste and the understaffing of environmental protection organs, the
problems of illegal transferring and random dumping cannot be
completely solved."
(Xinhua News Agency April 26, 2005)