Negotiators from 170 countries will discuss how to manage the transboundary traffic of hazardous waste during a five-day conference in Bali starting Monday.

Indonesia is set to break long-deadlocked talks on ban amendments prohibiting the import and export of all hazardous waste.

Indonesian chief negotiator Agus Purnomo said a new breakthrough was urgently needed to resolve long-debated issues including ban amendments and ship dismantling.

"Many hope the Bali meeting will breakthrough the ban amendment which has been deadlocked for about 20 years. We can no longer stick to old negotiations on this matter," he told The Jakarta Post on Saturday.

"We hope to reach a compromise among negotiators on the Basel ban."

Agus said State Minister for Environment Rachmat Witoelar will host an informal meeting with his foreign counterparts and negotiators to compromise on solutions to end the deadlock.

Rachmat will serve as president for the ninth Conference of Parties (COP) of the Basel Convention on the control of transboundary movements of hazardous wastes and their disposal.

The Basel ban was adopted as an amendment to the convention in 1995. It requires the export and import of all hazardous wastes to be banned to protect human health and the environment against their adverse effects.

However, only 62 member countries have so far ratified the amendment, including Indonesia.

Agus said many developing countries, including Thailand that has set up waste management facilities, disagreed with the Basel ban since they lack hazardous waste to process, while some rich nations are prepared to export their hazardous wastes to other countries for cheaper processing.

International activist groups, including Greenpeace and Basel Action Network, have repeatedly called on Basel parties to enforce the ban amendment immediately to prevent further environmental damage.

"The need for the Basel Ban Amendment is now more pressing than at any point in history," Basel Action Network said in a statement recently.

The Bali conference on hazardous waste will take place from June 23 to 27 and is expected to issue a so-called Bali Declaration.

"We hope the declaration will be a road map on how to resolve pending issues in Basel Conventions," Agus said.

Parties to the convention meet every two years.

The Indonesian government has said as the world longest coastal area, the Basel convention has been crucial for Indonesia.

Agus said the contentious issues subject to heated debate would include the dismantling of obsolete ships.

"It is important for Indonesia since we have about 200 dockyards where the dismantling of ships could damage the health of people working in the ships. There must be procedures to dismantle the obsolete ships," he said.

The Bali meeting will also consider adopting a new set of technical guidelines for the environmentally sound management of used mobile phones, mercury containing wastes and on used tyres.

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