Clear Sky Initiative Launched
South Korean Environment Minister Cho Myung-rae and Chinese Ecology and Environment Minister Li Ganjie presided over their annual meeting in Seoul on Nov. 4. They agreed to have high-ranking policy coordination meetings on a regular basis in February this year and the meeting in Seoul was the first since the agreement.
There, the two environment ministers signed the Clear Sky Initiative as a broad cooperation framework in the field of atmospheric protection. The purpose of the initiative is to expand the two countries’ cooperation in the field from study and research to technical cooperation, policy exchange and forecast data sharing. In other words, the initiative is an official diplomatic document for their further cooperation in that field.
At the meeting, the ministers agreed to check the result of the initiative at next year’s annual meeting and seek more opportunities with regard to research personnel exchange, new joint projects and academic meetings to be attended by the two governments, scholars and entrepreneurs.
In addition, the ministers are going to work more closely with each other based on their consensus that radioactive water discharge from Fukushima is in violation of international treaties and has an adverse impact on marine environments.