Seoul, Tehran to sign environmental MOU

South Korea and Iran will sign a memorandum of understanding on environmental cooperation in Seoul later this week, the environment ministry here said Monday.

To that end, Iranian Environment Minister Masoumeh Ebtakar will visit the country to sign the MOU at a Seoul hotel on Tuesday, the ministry said. Ebtakar, also the incumbent vice president of Iran, was named one of the seven Champions of the Earth by the United Nations Environment Program as a prominent environmental leader in 2006.

The MOU will cover a wide range of environmental cooperation including joint seminars on the management of waste and air pollution and the conservation of wetland ecosystems and the exchanges of information and experts, the ministry said.

After the signing ceremony, South Korean Environment Minister Yoon Seong-kyu and Ebtakar will discuss ways to actualize environmental projects, including the creation of an environment-friendly energy town, discussed at the summit between South Korean President Park Geun-hye and her Iranian counterpart Hassan Rouhani in Tehran early this month, the ministry said.

"(I hope) the MOU will serve as the first step for substantial cooperation in enhancing the exchanges of environmental policy and technology and eventually bettering the two nations' environments," Yoo said. (Yonhap)