KUALA LUMPUR, 6 JUNE, 2011: The Malaysian Parliament will be hosting the 15th General Assembly of the Asia-Pacific Parliamentarians' Conference on Environment and Development (APPCED) starting tomorrow.

The two-day conference will be attended by some 93 Parliamentarians from 21 countries.
   
The conference among others aimed to promote awareness and understanding of issues affecting the environment and development among parliamentarians of the Asia Pacific region, to promote cooperation between developed and developing countries in the field of environment and development.
   
It also hoped to draw adequate attention to the protection of the environment and the ecology so as to maintain long-term sustainability of the country's development and to undertake pertinent environment researches.
   
Parliament's senior public relations officer Tengku Nasaruddin Tengku Mohamed said a "Declaration Kuala Lumpur" will be adopted by member countries at the end of the conference.
   
Besides of the country reports, three experts will also present their papers on environmental issues.
   
They are Prof Dr Joy Jacqueline Pereira from the Institute for Environment and Development, University of Malaya, Luigi Cabrini, Director of Sustainable Development of Tourism Organisation (UNWTO) and Dr Won Hee Lee from the Korean Culture and Tourism Institute.   
   
Nasaruddin added that Malaysia has been an active member of APPCED and currently has two representatives in the body.
   
They are Member of Parliament for Putatan Datuk Dr Marcus Mojigoh and Deputy Tourism Minister Datuk Dr James Dawos Mamit who are the current secretary-general and vice-president of APPCED respectively.
   
"This is the first time Malaysia is hosting this conference. Dewan Rakyat Speaker Tan Sri Pandikar Amin Mulia is scheduled to open the conference tomorrow," he said.
   
APPCED was founded in June 1993 by the Korean Parliamentary League on Children, Population and Environment (CEP) following the Rio Earth Summit in 1992.
   
The purpose of the inception was to organise meetings among member countries to seek joint measures against environmental concerns in the regions.
   
Currently it has a membership of 46 countries.
   


-- BERNAMA