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Ankara Ministerial Declaration

Ankara, 29 April 2010

ANKARA MINISTERIAL DECLARATION AMONG THE REPUBLIC OF TURKEY, ISLAMIC REPUBLIC OF IRAN, REPUBLIC OF IRAQ, SYRIAN ARAB REPUBLIC ON COOPERATION IN THE AREA OF ENVIRONMENT AND METEOROLOGY

Ministers of the Republic of Turkey, Islamic Republic of Iran, Republic of Iraq and Syrian Arab Republic, gathered in Ankara 28-29 April 2010, expressing the desire to strengthen the existing friendly relations among the Country Parties and further developing the cooperation in the area of environment and meteorology have agreed on the following:

>With the aim of reducing the environmental pollution with special emphasis to mitigate dust haze phenomenon, taking measures on dust formation, improving the meteorological actions and controlling the wind and soil erosion and develop regional cooperation projects on these areas; parties will cooperate by knowledge, experience and technology with the principles of equality, reciprocity and benefit of all concerned Parties, in the context of sustainable development and in accordance with international conventions and agreements to which all four countries are party.

The Ministers agreed to set up a “Task Force” consisting of experts from related ministries or departments of the countries, one senior and three (3) experts, and international organizations such as UNEP and WMO if needed. The mandate of the task force is to prepare a detailed Action Plan within 4 (four) months for a period of 2 (two) years. The works of the Task Force will be coordinated by the host country of the next Environment Ministerial meeting in September 2010 in Tehran

Each Party will identify the fields that they can coordinate the regional works. The importance of the establishment or strengthening of study and training centers has been emphasized also by the Ministers.

Ministers agreed on exchanging experience and knowledge on the following subjects:

• A- ENVIRONMENT
  • 1) Water Quality
  • 2) Waste Water Management
  • 3) Protected Areas
• B- AIR QUALITY MANAGEMENT
  • 1) Project Management and Improving Institutional Capacity
  • 2) Prevention and Control of Air Pollution
  • 3) Establishing, Operating Air Quality Monitoring Stations and Data Assessment
  • 4) Exchange Programs on the Field of Air Quality Modeling
  • 5) Evaluation of the Establishment of a "Regional Air Quality Prediction and Early Warning Center"
• C- METEOROLOGY
  • 1) Weather Forecasts, Meteorological Telecommunication, Modeling, Monitoring, Assessment and Training
  • 2) Climate and Climate Change Models, Data Processing
  • 3) Meteorological Observation Systems, Disaster Risk Management and Instrument Calibration
  • 4) Agrometeorology, Hydrometeorology and Marine Meteorology
• D- DE-DESERTIFICATION FORESTRY, SOIL FIXATION AND CONTROL OF SOIL EROSION AND DUST, HAZE, STORM MITIGATION:
  • 1) Seed and Seedling Activities
  • 2) Combating of Desertification
  • 3) Combating Wind and Soil Erosion
  • 4) Afforestation Techniques
  • 5) Forest Fires