"It is indeed unfortunate that as enthusiastic as we are to help out our friends, we are not being responded to," says the Environment and Water Resources Minister.
Channel NewsAsia 12 Apr 16;
SINGAPORE: Despite promises from Indonesia that it wants to resume discussions on a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) on haze mitigation in Jambi province, Singapore has yet to hear from Indonesian officials on the details, Minister for Environment and Water Resources Masagos Zulkifli said on Tuesday (Apr 12).
Singapore had in 2007 collaborated with Indonesia’s environment ministry and the Jambi Provincial Government to jointly develop a master plan to deal with land and forest fires. The collaboration ended in 2011, but an MOU was proposed to extend it.
Responding to a question by Member of Parliament Sylvia Lim on progress of the discussions, Mr Masagos said: "On our part, we are very keen to do this, because that will put people - their people on the ground - to be trained in fire mitigation, in reporting onset of haze, and will help everybody," he said.
The minister said there was also the possibility of them working with Malaysian counterparts who have successfully suppressed peatland fires.
"It is indeed unfortunate that as enthusiastic as we are to help out our friends, we are not being responded to," Mr Masagos said.
- CNA/xk
