TEHRAN – The 39th Executive Committee meeting of the Regional Organization for the Protection of the Marine Environment (ROPME) approved three initiatives proposed by Iran.
ROPME held an online meeting on Thursday chaired by Bahrain with participation from Iran, Saudi Arabia and Kuwait, doe.ir reported.
Iran’s three proposals included holding joint marine research patrols with Iran’s participation and adopting similar efforts by other Member States, sending experts from Member States to the ROPME Secretariat to facilitate technical capacity building and support for the implementation of approved projects, and establishing a regional center in Iran to train marine environment and coastal wetland experts.
Several other issues were discussed at the meeting, including the strategic direction of the organization from 2026 to 2030, and the financial report from 2021 to 2024 was considered.
Iran also submitted to the ROPME Executive Committee a recently developed atlas of the country’s wetlands by the Ministry of Environment.
At the 38th meeting of the ROPME Executive Committee, Iran proposed incorporating a plan to combat sand and dust storms (SDS) into the organization’s strategic plan.
The meeting was held in Kuwait on February 13th. Department of Environment (DOE) official Ahmad Reza Rahijanzadeh represented the country at this year’s conference.
During the meeting, participants discussed a strategic plan focused on three main axes: Persian Gulf pollution, climate change, and biodiversity conservation. The two countries also agreed to follow up Iran’s proposal at a meeting of experts, ISNA reported.
Rahijanzadeh pointed out that even if SDS is not approved as the fourth axis of the strategic plan, it will be added to the climate change issue.
It was also decided to follow up the development of the strategic plan by holding consistent virtual meetings, Rahijanzadeh added.
On the sidelines of the meeting, Iranian and Kuwaiti officials discussed joint maritime issues.
MT/MG