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AUSTRALIA RATIFIES SOUTH PACIFIC HAZWASTE TREATY

News Release, ENS

CANBERRA, Australia, August 20, 1998 (ENS) - On the eve of the annual South Pacific Forum meeting that opens tomorrow in Pohnpei, Australia has ratified the Waigani Convention, which bans the importation into Forum Island countries of hazardous and radioactive wastes, and seeks to control the movement of hazardous wastes within the region.

AustraliaÆs High Commissioner based in Fiji, H.E. Greg Urwin handed over the instruments of ratification to the Acting Secretary General of the South Pacific Forum Secretariat, Tony Slatyer.

"We welcome the action by Australia and urge all eligible states to sign and ratify the Convention as soon as possible, in accordance with their national process," said Slatyer.

The Convention was adopted by the South Pacific Forum in 1995 during the annual Forum Leaders meeting in Papua New Guinea.

Fourteen of the 16 Forum member states have signed the convention while four (Australia, Federated States of Micronesia, Fiji and Papua New Guinea) have now ratified it. Ten countries are needed to ratify the convention before it comes into force.

The Waigani Convention is formally called the Convention to Ban the Importation into Forum Island Countries of Hazardous and Radioactive Wastes and to Control the Transboundary Movement and Management of Hazardous Wastes within the South Pacific Region.

The Convention is also open for accession by non-Forum states which have territories in the Convention area such as France, the United Kingdom and the United States.

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