Minister of Natural Resources and Environment General Surasak Karnjanarat joined other high-level speakers at the World Bank HQs

On April 11, 2019, General Surasak Karnjanarat, Minister of Natural Resources and Environment of Thailand joined other high-level speakers , namely,  Catherine McKenna, Minister of Environment and Climate Change of Canada , Dag-Inge Ulstein, Minister of International Development of Norway,  Peter Thomson, UN Special Envoy for Ocean and  Roberta Barbieri, Vice President of PepsiCo, in a forum entitled “From Source to Sea : Innovative solutions to tackle marine pollution” at the World Bank HQs, Washington, D.C.   The Thai Minister highlighted Thailand’s proactive plans and concrete measures to tackle plastic wastes and marine debris at national level by banning specific items of single-use plastics, with targets of 50 percent reduction of marine plastic debris and 100 percent recycling of these items by 2027.

At regional level, Thailand, as current ASEAN Chair, hosted the Special ASEAN Ministerial Meeting on Marine Debris on March 5, 2019 in Bangkok.  The meeting welcomed the ASEAN Framework of Action on Marine Debris and agreed to submit Bangkok Declaration on Combating Marine Debris in ASEAN region to Leaders for adoption at the 34^th ASEAN Summit in June 2019 in Bangkok.

The Minister also met with Ms. Laura Tuck, Vice President, Sustainable Development, World Bank, on April 12, 2019 and discussed possible areas of partnership to tackle marine pollution.