Ministers of the Environment of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania will meet on October 24, in Palanga, Lithuania. The most substantial themes to be discussed are related to single-bottom tankers and declaring the Baltic Sea pollution–sensitive area. The Baltic Republics support this kind of initiatives in several international institutions. At the Council of the Baltic Sea, during current Estonian Presidency, these questions are one of the priorities. Estonia considers significant more strict marine protection requirements because the Western Estonian archipelago and the Gulf of Finland are areas extremely sensitive to pollution. At the same time Estonia recognises that possible restrictions in declaring the Baltic Sea and Estonian marine areas especially sensitive marine areas may cause decrease in oil transit through Estonia and with it economical and social consequences. On the other hand the number of single-bottom tankers is only 20 per cent of all tankers. On Tuesday, October 21, the European Commission banned the entering of single-bottom fuel tankers into the ports of the European Union. Mr. Villu Reiljan, the Minister of the Environment, his Latvian colleague Mr. Raimonds Vejonis, and Lithuanian colleague Mr. Arynas Kundrotas also consider possible co-operation on waste management and packaging, but also the implementation of EU Directive “Integrated Pollution Prevention and Control”. In case of a need a tripartite workgroup for concerting and implementing further joint activity will be formed. In the framework of the of the Palanga meeting, an agreement concerning transboundary water bodies will be signed between Estonia and Latvia, and between Lithuania and Latvia,. The purpose of the agreement is to co-operate in drawing up the Gauja/Koiva international river area water management plan. In Estonia, the river area grasps Vőru and Valga Counties. For additional information please contact: Ms. Annika Velthut, |
