The Regional Working Group-Pollution (RWG-P) of the UNDP/GEF Yellow Sea Project was held with thankful secretarial support from the National Marine Environmental Monitoring Center in Dandong, China. Dandong is a city in northwestern China, located on the Yalu River between China and Democratic People’s Republic of Korea.
Mr. Wen Quan, Chairperson of the RWG-P, welcomed all participants to Dandong, and invited participants to give opening speeches. Mr. Jiang extended a special welcome to representatives from NOWPAP DIN/RAC, Liaoning Province and Dandong Oceanic and Fishery Bureau. Mr. Oh Jae Ryoung was specially mentioned for his past contribution to regional co-operation, and Mr. Shin Kyung Hoon was welcomed as the replacement of Mr. Oh and as future Chairperson of the Korean Pollution group.
After the summary of the stages of the project (TDA, SAP, pilot implementation of SAP) from Mr. Yihang Jiang, the project manager, the meeting focused on summarising the implementation of the TDA, and preparing for the SAP phase. The first phase of the project was on data collection for TDA. There had been some delay in national data collection and report submission, leading to a delay in the regional data synthesis report and TDA. However, the consultant preparing the TDA will aim to complete the TDA by the end of October/early November 2006, in time for the RSTP and PSC to review and approve the document, respectively.