On Feb 15, malaysiakini carried a story entitled NGOs torch UK incinerator delegation . This was based on a letter from various NGOs to myself and my colleagues in Bangkok and Manila, criticising a recent mission to Malaysia, Thailand and the Philippines designed to showcase UK technologies for the management of solid waste.

I have now written to the NGOs concerned in response to their letter. The key elements of my response are:

The UK shares the objective of promoting cleaner technologies that minimise waste and pollutants and help to protect and preserve our environment. Indeed, helping to share such technologies with other countries is a primary objective of the Environmental Industries Sector Unit (EISU) of UK Trade and Investment - and of the EISU mission that has just visited Malaysia, Thailand and the Philippines.

Contrary to the suggestion in the letter from NGOs, the British government does not promote waste management technologies that we do not believe to be environmentally friendly. The UK's (and EU's) environmental standards, including with respect to waste disposal, are among the best in the world; and the UK is a leading signatory and proponent of the Kyoto Protocol aimed at reducing harmful emissions into the atmosphere.

The technologies being showcased during the current mission to Southeast Asia are all ones that have been tried and tested in the UK and Europe against these high environmental standards. We believe that these technologies could contribute significantly to improving environmental standards of waste management in this region - though it is of course up to each individual country to decide on the specific technologies it wishes to apply to its own circumstances.

The author is writing on behalf of the British High Commission.