The Host Country, Lao PDR presented The Treasure of Mekong River Traditional Dance for welcoming the 35th ASOEN and Related Meeting delegations and partners. The ASOEN chair of Indonesia - Director General of the Agency for Standardization of Environment and Forestry Instruments, Ministry of Environment and Forestry, Ary Sudijanto - encourage ASEAN Member State, “Indonesia recognizes the importance of accelerating the implementation of our strategic action plan through the respective working groups”.

Vientiane, 30 July 2024, the 35^th ASEAN Senior Official Meeting on Environment was officially opened by H.E. Bounkham Vorachit, Minister of Natural resources and Environment of the Lao PDR. This meeting ensured a step forward towards ASEAN Community by 2025 shall be one that engages and benefit the peoples and inclusive, sustainable, resilient and dynamic.

The Host Country, Lao PDR presented The Treasure of Mekong River Traditional Dance for welcoming the 35th ASOEN and Related Meeting delegations and partners. Mekong River is a giver of life. the Mekong River means more than environmental and economic, it has taken on a cultural significance in each of the areas it touches and inspired a dazzling array of ritual, musical, and artistic expressions.

ASOEN plays important role in handling cross cutting initiatives including among other, plastic pollution, circular economy, carbon neutrality, SCP and one health-related issues that requires cross-border coordination and involvement of the working group in ASEAN.

List of those cross-sectoral initiatives such as:

a)     ASEAN Comprehensive Recovery Framework

b)    ASEAN Blue Economy Framework

c)     ASEAN Carbon Neutrality Strategy

d)    ASEAN One Health Joint Plan of Action and ASEAN One Health Network

e)    ASEAN Disaster Resilience Platform

f)      ASEAN Strategic Framework to Combat Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR) through One Health Approach

g)     Regional Framework of Environmental Rights in ASEAN

h)    Framework of Circular Economy for AEC, Implementation Plan and Establishment of the Focal Group for Circular Economy (FG-CE)

i)      ASEAN SCP Framework

Indonesia as the lead country on ASEAN SCP also update the progress for the implementation of ASEAN SCP Framework, particularly the third and fourth goals of the ASEAN SCP Framework: Establish Good Practice for Green Products and Guidelines for GPP (Green Public Procurement) and Promote Sustainable Lifestyle in Urban and Rural Settings.

The ASOEN chair of Indonesia - Director General of the Agency for Standardization of Environment and Forestry Instruments, Ministry of Environment and Forestry, Ary Sudijanto - encourage ASEAN Member State, “Indonesia recognizes the importance of accelerating the implementation of our strategic action plan through the respective working groups”.

Mr. Ary Sudijanto also propose to start the discussion on SCP under the purview of several related working groups under ASOEN, such as AWGCW, AWGESC and AWGCME, as well as the possibility to discuss on cross-sectoral and cross-pillar basis.

 The 35^th ASOEN meeting also updating the development of the ASCC Post-2025 Strategic Plan with the inputs on the scope of the development of Post-2024 ASPEN to include: (i) assessment and recommendations on streamlining the institutional arrangements of ASOEN and its working groups (e.g. how cross-cutting issues such as SCP could be addressed), (ii) mapping of ASOEN’s roles in cross-sectoral issues/initiatives.

As conclusion, the 35^th ASOEN also endorsed the work that have been achieved for adoption by the ASEAN Summit, including:

a)     the draft ASEAN Joint Statement on Biodiversity Conservation to CBD COP16 and its roadmap

b)    the draft ASEAN Joint Statement on Climate Change to UNFCCC COP-29 and its roadmap for adoption