HEART OF BORNEO UPDATE

UNCLAS BANDAR SERI BEGAWAN 000032 SIPDIS SENSITIVE SIPDIS E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: SENV EAGR PREL ASEAN BX SUBJECT: HEART OF BORNEO UPDATE ¶1. According to the Government of Brunei (GOB),there is yet one more procedural step to be taken before the Heart of Borneo (HOB) partner nations (Indonesia, Malaysia, and Brunei) can begin to implement the HOB forest conservation declaration that was endorsed by their leaders at the ASEAN Cebu Summit. Dato Hamdillah, Deputy Minister for Industry and Primary Resources and GOB point person for the HOB, told Ambassador that the declaration endorsed by the leaders still needs to be signed by appropriate ministers from the partner governments before it officially comes into effect. He believed there would be an opportunity for all three ministers to meet in mid-February and hold a signing ceremony. ¶2. Dato Hamdillah did not foresee any substantive hurdles to having all three governments sign the declaration, since the text was agreed prior to endorsement by the leaders. The only issue was the procedural one of finding a time when all three ministers could gather. Nevertheless, he described the signing as a necessary "next step" for the HOB to move forward. SKODON