KUALA LUMPUR: Southeast Asian foreign ministers will discuss how to tackle haze blanketing parts of the region ahead of the Asean summit next month, foreign minister Mohamad Hasan said on Monday.
Forest and land fires that have raged for months in Indonesia have in recent weeks caused thick haze in Singapore and in Malaysia, which closed schools in several states after air pollution levels hit the unhealthy mark.
The wildfires, mainly on the islands of Sumatra and Borneo, are Indonesia's most intense in 11 years.
While Asean has existing mechanisms to deal with natural disasters such as floods or volcano eruptions, haze is not included, Mohamad told reporters.
"So this is one of the issues that I will personally bring up in a meeting with my counterparts, ahead of the 49th summit in Manila next month," he said, according to his office.
Asean chair the Philippines did not immediately respond to a request for confirmation that the haze issue would be on the agenda.
Malaysia has previously offered assistance to Indonesia to combat fires.
Fire-fighting attempts in many areas were complicated by poor visibility, accessibility issues and a lack of suitable conditions for cloud seeding, Mohamad said, citing discussions with Indonesia's foreign minister.