SOUTH ASIA CO-OPERATIVE ENVIRONMENT PROGRAMME SOUTH ASIAN SEAS PROGRAMME SOUTH ASIAN SEAS PROGRAMME 6th Inter-governmental Meeting of Ministers Dhaka, Bangladesh 5 – 6 November 2019 REPORT OF THE SIXTH INTER-GOVERNMENTAL MEETING OF MINISTERS OF SOUTH ASIAN SEAS PROGRAMME Report of the 6th Inter-governmental Meeting of Ministers South Asian Seas Programme 5 – 6 November 2019, Dhaka, Bangladesh South Asia Co-operative Environlll.ent Progralll.lIl.e South Asian Seas Progralll.lIl.e No . 146j24A, Havelock Road, Colombo 5, Sri Lanka CERTIFICATE The Report of the Sixth Inter-governmental Meeting of Ministers of the South Asian Seas Programme held on 5 - 6 November 2019 in Dhaka, Bangladesh is herewith submitted to the members of the Inter­ governmental Meeting of Ministers and the Consultative Committee, in fulfliment of the fmancial and administrative procedures of SACEP and SASP. c::=w~~------~~;r~IT Director General 30th January 2020 (iii) Report of the 6/1' Illter-govenmlelltal Meetillg ofMillisters SOllth Asiml Seas Programme 5 - 6 November 2019, Dhaka, Ballgladesh Report of the 6th Inter-governmental Meeting of Ministers South Asian Seas Programme 5 – 6 November 2019, Dhaka, Bangladesh Report of the Sixth Inter-governmental Meeting of Ministers of South Asian Seas Programme (SASP) 5 – 6 November 2019 Dhaka, Bangladesh Report of the 6th Inter-governmental Meeting of Ministers South Asian Seas Programme 5 – 6 November 2019, Dhaka, Bangladesh Report of the 6th Inter-governmental Meeting of Ministers South Asian Seas Programme 5 – 6 November 2019, Dhaka, Bangladesh REPORT OF THE SIXTH INTER-GOVERNMENTAL MEETING OF MINISTERS OF THE SOUTH ASIAN SEAS PROGRAMME Para No. CONTENTS Page No. 1 Introduction 1 2 Attendance 1 3 Inauguration 1 4 Election of Office Bearers 2 5 Adoption of Agenda and organization of work 2 6 Country Statements / Brief Opening Remarks by the Member 2 States 7 Statements by the Observers 3 8 Presentation of the Report of the Preparatory Meeting of the 3 National Focal Points by the Rapporteur 9 Discussions and Endorsement of the Recommendations agreed upon at the Preparatory Meeting of National Focal Points 3 9.1 Institutional Matters 3 9.2 Programme Matters 4 9.3 Financial Matters 7 10 Approval of the Annual Audited Reports of Accounts for the financial years ending 31st December, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 7 2015, 2016 and 2017 11 Any other business 7 12 Adoption of the Report 7 13 Closure of Meeting 8 Report of the 6th Inter-governmental Meeting of Ministers South Asian Seas Programme 5 – 6 November 2019, Dhaka, Bangladesh Report of the 6th Inter-governmental Meeting of Ministers South Asian Seas Programme 5 – 6 November 2019, Dhaka, Bangladesh SOUTH ASIAN SEAS PROGRAMME Sixth Inter-governmental Meeting of Ministers (IMM) 5 - 6 November 2019 Dhaka, Bangladesh LIST OF ANNEXES ANNEX NO TITLE PAGE NO 1 List of Participants 9 2 Welcome Address was delivered by Dr. Abas Basir, Director General, SACEP 15 3 Welcome Address of the Host Country, Mr. Mahmud Hasan, Additional Secretary, Ministry of Environment, Forest and 19 Climate Change, Government of Bangladesh 4 Address by Head of Delegation, Mr. Idrees Malyar, Deputy Director General of the National Environmental Protection Agency, Government of Afghanistan and Out-going Chairman of 23 GC-SACEP 5 Address by the Out-going Chairman of IMM-SASP and the Head of Delegation, H.E Mr. Shah Faisal Kakar, Acting High 27 Commissioner of Pakistan in Bangladesh 6 Speech of the Special Guest, H.E Ms. Habibun Nahar, MP. Hon’ Deputy Minister, Ministry of Environment, Forest & Climate 31 Change, Government of Bangladesh 7 Speech of the Special Guest, Hon’ Mr. Ahmed Mujthaba, Minister of State for Environment, Republic of Maldives 35 8 Speech of the Special Guest, Hon’ Mr. Prakash Keshav Javadekar, Minister for Environment, Forest and Climate 39 Change, Government of India 9 Speech of the Special Guest, H.E Mr. Md. Shahab Uddin, MP. Minister, Ministry of Environment, Forest & Climate Change, 45 Government of Bangladesh 10 Speech of the Chief Guest, H. E. Dr. A. K. Abdul Momen, MP. Hon’ Minister, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Government of 49 Bangladesh 11 Address by the Chairperson, Mr. Abdullah Al Mohsin Chowdhury, Secretary, Ministry of Environment, Forest & Climate Change, 55 Government of Bangladesh Report of the 6th Inter-governmental Meeting of Ministers South Asian Seas Programme 5 – 6 November 2019, Dhaka, Bangladesh LIST OF ANNEXES ANNEX NO TITLE PAGE NO 12 Vote of thanks by Dr. A. K. M. Rafique Ahammed, Director General, Department of Environment, Government of Bangladesh 59 13 Agenda 63 14 Country Statement by Cdr. P. K. Srivastava, Scientist-F Ministry of Earth Sciences, Republic of India 67 15 Implementation of Regional Marine and Coastal Biodiversity Strategy for the South Asian Seas Region 71 16 Regional Marine Litter Action Plan for South Asia 175 17 Approved Work Programme for Year 2020 - 2021 215 18 Approved Budget for 2020 - 2021 subject to the concurrence of the relevant national authorities of each member country for the 217 increase of the Country Contributions of SASP 19 Report of the Preparatory Meeting of the National Focal Points for the 6th Inter-governmental Meeting of the Ministers of the South 219 Asian Seas Programme IMM 6.NFP / Annex I List of Participants 225 IMM 6.NFP / Annex II Welcome address by Dr. Abas Basir, Director General, SACEP 229 IMM 6.NFP / Annex III Opening Remarks were delivered by Mr. Abdullah Al Mohsin Chowdhury, Secretary, Ministry of Environment, Forest and 233 Climate Change Government of the Peoples Republic of Bangladesh IMM 6.NFP / Annex IV Addressed by H.E. Mr. Shah Faisal Kakar, Acting High Commissioner of the High Commission of the Islamic 235 Republic of Pakistan in Dhaka, the Out-going Chairman Report of the 6th Inter-governmental Meeting of Ministers South Asian Seas Programme 5 – 6 November 2019, Dhaka, Bangladesh LIST OF ANNEXES ANNEX NO TITLE PAGE NO IMM 6.NFP / Annex V Closing Remarks was delivered by Mr. Mahmud Hassan, Additional Secretary, Ministry of Environment, Forest and 239 Climate Change Government of the Peoples Republic of Bangladesh IMM 6.NFP / Annex VI Agenda 241 IMM 6.NFP / Annex VII Increase of the Salary of the Senior Programme Officer- 247 Regional/SASP Progress Report from 2014 – IMM 6.NFP / Annex VIII 253 2019 IMM 6.NFP / Annex IX Development and Implementation of National and Regional Oil and Chemical Spill 263 Contingency Planning for South Asia IMM 6.NFP / Annex X Ballast Water Management (BWM) under the GloFouling Project of the International 265 Maritime Organization (IMO) IMM 6.NFP / Annex XI Regional Coral Reef Monitoring for Adaption and Resilience 267 IMM 6.NFP / Annex XII Promotion of the London Protocol in the South Asian Seas 269 Region IMM 6.NFP / Annex XIII Sustainable Blue Economy 271 Initiatives IMM 6.NFP / Annex XIV SASP Country Contribution Status: as at 30 September 273 2019 IMM 6.NFP / Annex XV External Funding 275 Report of the 6th Inter-governmental Meeting of Ministers South Asian Seas Programme 5 – 6 November 2019, Dhaka, Bangladesh LIST OF ANNEXES ANNEX NO TITLE PAGE NO IMM 6.NFP / Annex XVI Proposed Budget for 2020 -2021 subject to the concurrence of the relevant national authorities of each member country to 277 increase the Country Contributions of SASP Report of the 6th Inter-governmental Meeting of Ministers South Asian Seas Programme 5 – 6 November 2019, Dhaka, Bangladesh SOUTH ASIAN SEAS PROGRAMME (SASP) SIXTH INTER-GOVERNMENTAL MEETING OF MINISTERS (IMM.6) 6TH NOVEMBER 2019 DHAKA, BANGLADESH 1. INTRODUCTION The Sixth Inter-governmental Meeting of Ministers of the South Asian Seas Programme (IMM.6-SASP) was held in Dhaka, Bangladesh on 5 – 6 November 2019 back to back with the 15th Meeting of the Governing Council of South Asia Co-operative Environment Programme (15GC- SACEP). 2. ATTENDANCE The meeting was attended by Representatives from the following Member Countries viz: Bangladesh, India, Maldives, Pakistan and Sri Lanka. It was also attended by representatives from the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES), Secretariat of the Basel, Rotterdam and Stockholm Conventions (BRS) and IGES Centre Collaborating with UNEP on Environmental Technologies (CCET) as observers. List of Participants is at Annex 1. 3. INAUGURATION A joint inauguration was held for the 6th Inter-governmental Meeting of Ministers, South Asian Seas Programme (IMM.6-SASP) and the 15th Meeting of the Governing Council of South Asia Co-operative Environment Programme (15GC-SACEP) as both the meetings were held back to back. The welcome Address was delivered by Dr. Abas Basir, Director General, SACEP. (Annex 2) The welcome Address of the host country was delivered by Mr. Mahmud Hasan, Additional Secretary, Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, Government of the Peoples Republic of Bangladesh. (Annex 3) The out-going Chairman of GC-SACEP, the Head of Delegation, Mr. Idrees Malyar, Deputy Director General of the National Environmental Protection Agency, Government of Afghanistan then addressed the august gathering. (Annex 4) The out-going Chairman of IMM-SASP, the Head of Delegation, H.E Mr. Shah Faisal Kakar, Acting High Commissioner of Pakistan in Bangladesh, then addressed the gathering. (Annex 5) Report of the 6th Inter-governmental Meeting of Ministers South Asian Seas Programme 5 – 6 November 2019, Dhaka, Bangladesh 1 This was followed by the speech of the Special Guest, H.E Ms. Habibun Nahar, MP. Hon’ Deputy Minister, Ministry of Environment, Forest & Climate Change, Government of Bangladesh. (Annex 6) The Special Guest, Hon’ Mr. Ahmed Mujthaba, Minister of State for Environment, Republic of Maldives then delivered is speech. (Annex 7) The august gathering was then addressed by the Special Guest, Hon’ Mr. Prakash Keshav Javadekar, Minister for Environment, Forest and Climate Change, Government of India.