FRIDAY, 9 SEPTEMBER – Vice-Chancellor of Universiti Malaysia Sabah (UMS), Professor Datuk Dr. Mohd Harun Abdullah said the three-way cooperation is the best option at international level, to ensure sustainable development and ecosystem conservation management are integrated among developing countries.

He said, the move would be achieved through the Third Country Training Programme (TCTP) Sabah that is entering its third year this year.

“Institute for Tropical Biology and Conservation (ITBC) as a training institution will coordinate TCTP activities with the state’s Natural Resources Office (NRO).

“The coordination of activities by NRO has the support of various agencies including Sabah Forestry Department, Sabah Wildlife Department, Sabah Parks (TTS) and the Sabah Biodiversity Centre (SaBC).

“This training programme will also be put under the Malaysian Technical Cooperation Programme (MTCP) which is currently under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Malaysia,” he said at the launching of the Sabah TCTP 2016 themed “Integrated Training Course and Ecosystem Conservation Training”, yesterday.

Datuk Harun said, MTCP and the Japanese Government through the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) will jointly finance the training programme.

“TCTP participants this year comes from India, Uganda, Botswana, South Africa, Myanmar, Sri Lanka, Vietnam, Cambodia, the Philippines and Thailand,” he said.

He hoped that the collaboration would continue to exist among the organisations involved, thus making Sabah a model of excellence for conservation of biodiversity and ecosystems nationally, regionally and worldwide. – (fl)