HAZE in the skies over South-East Asia brought senior ministers and representatives from five nations to Phuket today -- but the top Thai minister stayed away.

The Minister of Natural Resources and Environment, Anongwan Tepsutin, is believed to have been concerned that his attendance could trigger an anti-government protest and possibly impede tourist flights.

The People's Alliance for Democracy has previously prevented senior members of the current Thaksin successor government from travelling south.

While Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia and Brunei sent three Ministers and a Deputy Minister to today's conference, Thailand's lead representative was the Deputy Permanent Secretary of the department, Nisakorn Kositratna.

Haze from burning forest and farmland continues to blot the skies across the five countries to different degrees during July and August, causing respiratory problems for thousands of people and probably hastening the deaths of some.

The fires mostly come from the large island of Borneo, which Indonesia shares with Brunei and the eastern states of Malaysia, and the neighboring Indonesian island of Sumatra.

No amount of talking over the years so far has persuaded Indonesian authorities to act to prevent the burn-offs entirely.

Critics even say the Indonesian Government cynically uses the haze problem to win political and economic concessions from its neighbors.

Most of the international talks at today's one-day meeting at the award-winning Dusit Thani Laguna Phuket Resort took place behind closed doors.

A media release later announced agreement on monitoring the haze, and offered some real progress.

Thailand especially has its own haze-generation problem, with tourism and the health of locals suffering each February to April in the northern city of Chiang Mai.

Today's conference was heftily labelled the Sixth Meeting of the Sub-Regional Steering Committee (MSC) on Transboundary Haze Pollution.

The senior international representatives were:

Malaysia's Minister of Natural resources and Environment, Douglas Embas Uggah, Brunei's Minister of Development, Pehin Dato Haji Abdullah Bakar, Singapore's Minister for the Environment and Water Resources, Dr Yaacob Ibrahim, and Indonesia's Deputy Minister of Nature Conservation Enhancement and Destruction Control, Mrs Masnellyarti Hilman.

''The Ministers appreciated Indonesia's efforts in effectively implementing its Plan of Action,'' a media released reported.

The target of reducing haze ''hotspots'' (ie policing and fire control) by 50 percent in comparison with 2006 had been met, the release said.

The ministers also noted internal progress on Sumatra on fire control and hotspot monitoring, along with an awareness program and alternative pest control.

Malaysia takes over the chairmanship of the Ministerial steering committee from Indonesia for the next two years.

Indonesia was praised for ''initiating substantive concrete actions for addressing land and forest fires.''

Singapore is to hold a workshop on haze monitoring in early 2009.