The ASEAN S&T Ministers will hold their informal meeting in Manila on 7-8 July 2008. The informal meeting, to be held for the fifth time, will be hosted by Dr. Esterella Alabastro, Secretary of the Department of Science and Technology (DOST) of the Philippines. The Ministers will exchange views on various issues relating to the current challenges faced by the region such as climate change, energy and food shortage. It is expected that the Ministers will issue directives on how S&T interventions could help find ways to minimise their adverse social, environmental and economic impacts, and at the same time improve the quality of life of ASEAN peoples.

To keep abreast of the ASEAN developments relating to the ASEAN Community building efforts, the Dr. Surin Pitsuwan, Secretary General of ASEAN, will brief the Ministers on the progress of the ASEAN Charter, signed by the ASEAN Leaders in Singapore on 20 November 2007. How the ASEAN Charter will also affect the way the S&T cooperation in ASEAN should be run and how S&T must be closely working with other sectors will also the subject of discussion by the Ministers.

To promote S&T collaboration with the ASEAN Dialogue Partners, the ASEAN S&T Ministers will also undertake sidelines informal discussions with their counterparts from Australia, China, EU, India, Japan, New Zealand and ROK under different platforms such as ASEAN+EU, ASEAN+3 (China, Japan and ROK) and with a group of six Dialogue Partners (Australia, China, India, Japan, New Zealand and ROK).

The Ministerial discussion with EU, represented by the EC, would be a milestone for ASEAN S&T cooperation as this will be for the first time that both regions hold talks at the Ministerial level. Both sides have expressed their readiness to collaborate closely to promote S&T in few areas of common interest.

Prior to the Ministerial Meetings and various Discussions, the Senior S&T Officials and also Technical experts will convene meetings of the ASEAN Committee on Science and Technology (COST) and Sub-Committees to review the progress of projects and activities, and to also discuss the preparations for the Informal Ministerial Meeting and Discussions.

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