REGIONAL ENVIRONMENTAL LAW WORKSHOP IS HELD IN BAKU, AZERBAIJAN

The Caspian Environment Programme (CEP), a regional programme approved by the Caspian Governments and supported by international donors such as United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), World Bank and the European Union Tacis Programme, is holding the regional Environmental Law Workshop on the 10^th-13^th December 2001 in Baku, Azerbaijan. The event is organized in cooperation with the UNEP Regional Office for Europe and United Nations Economic Commissions for Europe (UNECE).

The aim of the workshop is to review the process of transposing Multilateral Environmental Agreements (MEAs) into national legal systems by focusing on institutional arrangements, information management, substantive obligations and compliance measures.

The workshop will bring together official representatives from five Caspian countries, representatives form Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES), the UNECE Convention on Access to Information, Public Participation in Decision-Making and Access to Justice in Environmental Matters (Aarhus Convention) and the UNECE Convention on Environmental Impacts Assessment in a Transboundary Context (Espoo Convention) and the Regional Environmental Center for Central Europe (REC). Prive sector is presented by BP, ExxonMobil and the Caspian Fish Factory, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), and international NGO ISAR is also represented. The Minister of Ecology and Natural Resources, Mr. Goussein Bagirov, inaugurated the event.

The workshop takes place in Baku, Azerbaijan, from 10 to 14 December 2001, at ISR Plaza Azeri Apart & Business Centre, Nizami, 340, starting at 10.00.

Contact persons:

Marceil Yeater, CITES, Secretariat, Chemin Des Anemones,
CH-1219 Chateleine Geneva, Switzerland
E-mail: marceil.yeater@unep.ch
Tel.: + 41 22 917 84 64
Fax: +41 22 917 80 11

Elina Farmanova, the Caspian Environment Programme,
Programme Coordination Unit, Room 108,
Government Building, 40 Uzeir Gadjibekov Street,
Baku 370016 Azerbaijan,
Phone: + (99412) 97 17 85, 93 80 03
Fax: + (99412) 97 17 86
E-mail: efarmanova@caspian.in-baku.com