Uruguay President Tabare Vazquez said Friday that his government will abide by the Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants.

The elimination and reduction of such pollutants benefits all countries and helps to reduce poverty, said Vazquez on the last day of the first meeting of the signatory states to the convention, which started Monday in Punta del Este, 140 km east of Montevideo, the Uruguayan capital.

The convention has been ratified by 98 of the 151 countries that signed it. The United States and Russia are among those nations yet to ratify the accord.

Poverty is one of the factors that are closely linked to pollution, the president noted.

About 800 delegates from 130 countries participated in the meeting organized by the Uruguayan government and the United Nations Environment Program.

Source: Xinhua