JAKARTA, June 21 (Xinhua) -- Indonesia will host the 9th Meeting of the Conference of the Parties (COP) to the Basel Convention, at Nusa Dua, Bali province, from June 23 to 27, 2008.

    The conference is expected to be attended by 1,000 participants, including around 30 ministers, from 170 countries, Antara news agency reported on Saturday.

    The conference will discuss five issues, namely waste handling, legal aspects of waste import bans, strengthening cooperation with other related conventions, regional cooperation in strengthening the Basel Convention's position, and holding a world forum on waste management related to human health.

    As an archipelagic country located strategically Indonesia is prone to smuggling and illegal shipment of hazardous wastes.

    The conference is expected to yield an agreement on cooperation in and regulation on transboundary movements of hazardous wastes and waste disposal in the respective countries.

    The Basel Convention on the Control of Transboundary Movements of Hazardous Wastes and their Disposal is the most comprehensive global environmental treaty on hazardous and other wastes. The Convention was adopted in 1989 and entered into force in 1992.

    It has 170 member countries (Parties) and aims to protect human health and the environment against the adverse effects resulting from the generation, management, transboundary movements and disposal of hazardous and other wastes.

    Indonesia ratified the Convention in 1993.