Taiwan's minister of environmental protection is heading to Russia to attend an international meeting on environmental issues.

The meeting is a forum of environment ministers from countries in the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC). The meeting is set to take place from July 16 to 18.

On Friday, Environment Minister Stephen Shen said that he plans to share Taiwan's experience in ecological conservation and environmental protection. Shen said the 21 members of APEC are all at different stages for implementing measures to improve air pollution and climate change. He said that Taiwan’s efforts fall roughly in the middle of those countries.

The minister said that Taiwan can learn from advanced countries like Japan and the United States at the conference, while it can share its experience with less developed countries.This is the first APEC meeting held on environmental issues since 1997.