Kuwait's EPA chief emphasises importance of GCC environment e-gate

Kuwait's Environment Public Authority (EPA) Sheikh Abdullah Ahmad Al-Humoud Al-Sabah has accentuated the importance of the establishing an electronic gate for data on the environment issues in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) member states.
Speaking at the inauguration of the second meeting of the GCC technical committee in charge of the project, which kicked off here Sunday, Sheikh Abdullah said that the Gulf states are prioritizing environment issues.
He pointed out that the GCC environment officials approved the proposal to found an e-gate for collecting and exchanging environment data of the member states in a meeting held in Kuwait last year.
Kuwait's EPA is overseeing the project which also aims to raise ordinary people's awareness about environment issues in the Gulf region, and offers official data about the environment situation in the member states, he said.
He noted that the GCC leaders have formed the Supreme Council for Environment to safeguard environment and natural resources.
Since its foundation, the council has taken a considerable number of resolutions to give tremendous impetus to joint GCC action to protect the environment to help achieve sustainable development and economic and social progress goals, he said. GCC General Secretariat's Minister Plenipotentiary for Human and Environment Affairs Adel Al-Bastaki said the meeting of the technical committee will set a plan of action for executing the project.
He unveiled that Kuwait has donated about USD 1 million to the project, which makes up about 72 percent of the cost of the first phase.
He wished success for the ambitious project to achieve its goal of providing official, up-to-date and precise information to decision-makers and relevant bodies in the Gulf states and the whole world.
The three-day meeting has an agenda full of key issues including: air quality guide, environment-related achievements and the mechanism of analyzing the requirements of the GCC environment e-gate.