St. Petersburg to host X International Baltic Sea Day

Helsinki, 16 March (HELCOM Information Service) – Up to 600 participants from the Baltic Sea countries, including government officials, scientists and business leaders, as well as representatives of major regional organizations and NGOs are expected to take part in the X International Environmental Forum “Baltic Sea Day”, which will be held on 18-19 March in St. Petersburg. Established to support and promote the work of HELCOM, the Baltic Sea Day is considered as an important regional forum to stimulate public awareness of the state of the Baltic marine environment, to enhance political attention to existing problems, and to boost support towards actions needed to protect the sea.

“The annual Baltic Sea Day, which was launched ten years ago in St. Petersburg, has been a tremendous success, far exceeding our hopes and wishes,” says Anne Christine Brusendorff, HELCOM’s Executive Secretary. “This year’s event is a special one as we are also celebrating the 35^th anniversary of the first Helsinki Convention, which was signed on 22 March 1974. On this historic day the coastal countries laid the cornerstone for future protection of the Baltic Sea area. For more than three decades, HELCOM – the governing body of the Convention has been acting as the main environmental policy-maker for the Baltic Sea area by developing specific measures to protect and conserve its unique marine environment.”

One of the major themes of this year’s Forum will be the implementation of an ambitious HELCOM Baltic Sea Action Plan to drastically reduce pollution to the marine environment and re-create its good ecological status by 2021, which was adopted at a HELCOM Ministerial Meeting in 2007. The actions contained in the plan are to a great extent epoch-making. HELCOM is pioneering some innovative new concepts for the Baltic. The programme provides a plan for implementing the ecosystem-based approach to the management of human activities in the Baltic. The action plan focuses on the four most significant environmental issues in the Baltic: eutrophication caused by excessive inputs of nutrients, curbing inputs of hazardous substances, protecting biodiversity and ensuring safe maritime transportation.

The Conference is also an important opportunity to interact with Russian colleagues and discuss issues of joint interest, says Brusendorff. The implementation of the action plan was launched last year and coincided with the two-year Russian Chairmanship of HELCOM which began on 1 July 2008. Russia has indicated that it will strongly support the implementation of the Baltic Sea Action Plan, considering it as a joint initiative of the highest political importance for the region. Russia has also announced that it will host the HELCOM Ministerial Meeting in 2010 in Moscow where the Baltic Sea countries will present their national plans for how they are to implement the actions decided upon in the HELCOM Baltic Sea Action Plan.

“On behalf of the Helsinki Commission, I wish every success to the X Baltic Sea Day in St. Petersburg and thank everyone who, in one way or another, has contributed to the organisation of this Forum,” says Brusendorff. “I am absolutely confident that our deliberations will be a substantial contribution to the HELCOM Baltic Sea Action Plan”

The programme of the Baltic Sea Day includes plenary and sectional sessions (round tables) on a wide range of topics. Participants will look into such issues as the stakeholder involvement in the implementation of the HELCOM Baltic Sea Action Plan, participation of international financial institutions in the implementation of the plan, sustainable agriculture in the Baltic Sea region, assessment of the state of the Baltic marine environment, maritime transportation and the preparedness of the coastal countries to respond to major spills of oil and hazardous substances from shipping, as well as trilateral co-operation in the Gulf of Finland.

Keynote speakers at the official opening and plenary session will include senior officials of the Government of St. Petersburg, the Ministry of Natural Resources and Ecology of the Russian Federation, the Ministry of Transportation of the Russian Federation, Ministries of the environment of several Baltic Sea countries, HELCOM’s Chairman, as well as representatives of the European Commission, the Nordic Council, the Baltic Sea Parliamentary Conference and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD).

The Baltic Sea Day, which has been observed annually in St. Petersburg since 2000, was established on the basis of a decision made by HELCOM. It is organised by the St. Petersburg NGO Ecology and Business with active support from the Ministry of Natural Resources of the Russian Federation, and the local governments of St. Petersburg and the Leningrad Region, as well as the governments and financial institutions of the Baltic Sea countries.

Note to Editors:

The Baltic Marine Environment Protection Commission (more widely known as the Helsinki Commission, or HELCOM) works to protect the marine environment of the Baltic Sea from all sources of pollution through intergovernmental co-operation between the countries bordering the sea - Denmark, Estonia, the European Community, Finland, Germany, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Russia and Sweden.

HELCOM is the governing body of the "Convention on the Protection of the Marine Environment of the Baltic Sea Area," more usually known as the Helsinki Convention.

For more information, please contact:

Mr. Nikolay Vlasov

Information Secretary

HELCOM

Tel: +358 (0)207 412 635

Fax: +358 (0)207 412 639

E-mail: nikolay.vlasov@helcom.fi