The first Meeting of Senior Officials (SOM-1) on 8-11 February 1993 in Seoul, Republic of Korea, was the first attempt of its kind which addresses environmental issues in an official level in the subregion. Since then, through the consultation process in a series of SOMs, NEASPEC has developed its function as a policy dialogue forum which deals with environmental issues by identifying common concern among member States and pursuing environmental cooperation projects in the relevant fields, with the participation of senior officials from China, Japan, Mongolia, the Republic of Korea and the Russian Federation. SOM-1's principal contribution was the identification of three priority areas for cooperation, which included: a) Energy and air pollution; b) Ecosystem management, in particular deforestation and desertification; and c) Capacity-building.