U.S. – Australia Relations

Asia-Pacific Partnership on Clean Development and Climate

Washington, D.C. — 19 September 2006

Media Note
Office of the Spokesman
Washington, DC
September 19, 2006

Under Secretary of State for Democracy and Global Affairs Dr. Paula Dobriansky today hosted a meeting of senior officials from the Partner nations of the Asia-Pacific Partnership on Clean Development and Climate attending the UN General Assembly in New York. The meeting reviewed recent activities of the Partnership and provided an opportunity for South Korea to outline expectations for the Partnership’s Policy and Implementation Committee session schedule for October 11-13 on Jeju Island, Korea.

The meeting was also an opportunity to highlight the Partnership’s potential to make strong gains in addressing a range of environment and development goals, many of which are being addressed at the UN General Assembly, including energy security, sustainable development, and poverty alleviation.

The Asia-Pacific Partnership is a voluntary partnership among six major Asia-Pacific nations to accelerate the development and deployment of cleaner, more efficient technologies to meet national pollution reduction, energy security and climate change concerns in ways that promote economic development and reduce poverty. These six countries are: Australia, China, India, Japan, South Korea, and the United States. Together, these countries account for about half of the world’s population and more than half of the world’s economy and energy use.

The first Ministerial meeting of the Asia-Pacific Partnership took place in January 2006 in Sydney, Australia, where Ministers agreed to a Partnership Communique, Charter, and Work Plan that established eight public-private sector Task Forces.

For more information about the Partnership see: www.asiapacificpartnership.org/ and www.state.gov/g/oes/climate/app.

2006/844

Original document from www.state.gov.

Last update: Monday, 19 November 2007 GMT+1000