MANILA, Nov 15 (Reuters) – Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto apologised on Sunday to Singapore and Malaysia on behalf of his government for any impact that forest fires in Indonesia may have had on their people, and said authorities would continue to take firm action against companies linked to the blazes.
• Prabowo added that Indonesian government has and will continue take firm actions on companies involved in forest fire cases while also preparing to establish a new body to strengthen forest-fire prevention.
• The statements was conveyed by Prabowo during a session in ASEAN meeting, according to a statement from Indonesia’s presidential palace on Sunday.
• The Philippines’ foreign minister Theresa Lazaro said on Sunday that Indonesia was very candid in expressing what it had done to address forest fires.
• “The leaders also encouraged the ASEAN member states to prioritise the ratification of the ASEAN Coordinating Center on Transboundary Haze Pollution Control,” Lazaro told a news briefing.
• Indonesia has been battling its most intense wildfires in 11 years, with large swathes of land scorched, mainly on the islands of Sumatra, Borneo and Papua.
(Reporting by Mikhail Flores in Manila; Stefanno Sulaiman in Jakarta, Editing by Louise Heavens)
