As a follow-up to the POPs awareness raising campaign, a Regional Workshop on the Management of POPs was organized by UNEP jointly with the National Environment Agency (NEA), Ministry of Science, Technology and Environment of Vietnam in Hanoi, Vietnam from 16-19 March 1999. The purpose of the meeting was to encourage the countries of the Asia and the Pacific Region to initiate development of national strategies and action plans for reducing/eliminating releases of POPs, assist national officials, including POPs national focal points, implementing immediate national and/or regional actions determined to protect against the risks of POPs and prepare countries for technical implementation of a future global convention on POPs.