Russia set to take over the Chairmanship of HELCOM

Helsinki, 24 June (HELCOM Information Service) – On July 1, Russia will assume the rotating Chairmanship of the Helsinki Commission (HELCOM), the intergovernmental organisation of the nine Baltic Sea coastal countries and the European Community, working to protect the Baltic marine environment from all sources of pollution and to ensure safety of navigation in the region. The Government of the Russian Federation has nominated Mr. Igor I. Maydanov as Chairman of HELCOM. Mr. Maydanov is currently serving as Director of the Department for International Cooperation in the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment of the Russian Federation.

The incoming Chairman today highlighted HELCOM's key priorities for the next two years. Mr. Maydanov has put the commencement of the implementation of the HELCOM Baltic Sea Action Plan at the top of the list, followed by further enhancement of the Commission’s role as the focal point for the protection of the Baltic marine environment and strengthening the cooperation between all the nine coastal countries and the European Community.

The Baltic Sea Action Plan to drastically reduce pollution to the Baltic Sea and restore its good ecological status by 2021 was adopted last year at the HELCOM Ministerial Meeting in Krakow and is considered an initiative of the highest political importance for the protection of the Baltic Sea. “Building on the achievements of the Polish Chairmanship, during which this strategic programme was developed and adopted, Russia will ensure the wider participation of various stakeholders in the implementation of the action plan, as well as the realisation of all the necessary measures to ensure the sustainability of the recovery process of the Baltic marine ecosystem,” said Mr. Maydanov. 

The incoming HELCOM Chairman stresses that the action plan focuses on the region’s most urgent environmental problems, and is in many ways linked to the European and international programmes that regulate activities in the common European space. Therefore, one of the main HELCOM tasks over the coming two years is to pro-actively get all interested stakeholders involved in dialogues at regional and Pan-European levels to provide permanent political support for reaching the environmental goals of the plan, and to mobilise the necessary resources. The commitment of Heads of State and Governments to the implementation of the action plan will maintain momentum, accelerate the development of national programmes of action, and ensure appropriate financing is allocated for their implementation, said Mr. Maydanov

He also underlined that the timeframe for the implementation of the HELCOM Baltic Sea Action Plan is in practice quite limited. A suitable methodology for prioritising projects designed to meet the goals of the plan, both at the national level and the level of the whole Baltic Sea region, should therefore be developed as soon as possible, together with approaches to mobilise and combine financial, human, and other resources, said Mr. Maydanov.

According to the incoming Chairman, another important issue on the agenda requiring thorough discussion is the application of economic tools to stimulate reductions in nutrient inputs, including nutrient credit trading. The Baltic Sea countries all wish to have quotas reliably and scientifically based, so the actions necessary to organise the monitoring and assessment of nutrient inputs should be taken by all the HELCOM Contracting Parties, he added.

A programme of actions designed to reduce pollution outside HELCOM countries should also be developed over the coming two years, since significant pollution reaches the Baltic Sea via transboundary waters or in the form of long-range airborne pollution, said Mr. Maydanov. He pointed out that in this work HELCOM shall actively use bilateral and multilateral projects, existing financing mechanisms, and international agreements such as the Convention on the Protection and Use of Transboundary Watercourses and International Lakes.

“One sea and a common European space unite us. Ultimately the world itself is not that big, and we should also seek to apply our Baltic experiences, knowledge, and priorities not only at the European level, but also globally,” said Maydanov. “We hope that joint activities will help to find efficient and balanced approaches for the successful implementation of prioritised goals, and also create appropriate and worthy responses to the new challenges we now face, in the same way that HELCOM has responded to challenges many times in the past.”

Mr. Maydanov is succeeding Prof. Mieczyslaw S. Ostojski of Poland, who chaired the Helsinki Commission in 2006-2008. The Chairmanship of HELCOM rotates between the Baltic Sea coastal countries and the European Community according to the alphabetical order every two years. Mr. Maydanov will lead, as Chairman, the work of HELCOM up until 30 June 2010.

CURRICULUM VITAE

Igor Ivanovich MAYDANOV

Age: 46

Position: Director, Department for International Cooperation of the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment of the Russian Federation.

Education: M. Sc., Moscow State Institute of International Relations (University) of the Ministry for Foreign Affairs, dipl. International Relations, 1984.

Language: English (fluent), Urdu (fluent), Hindi (good), Russian (mother language)

Career: Mr. Maydanov has seniority in the field of international relations and environment protection and natural resources management cooperation.

Mr. Maydanov started his career in 1984 at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation. He has great experience working as a diplomat in several Russian embassies abroad. In 2006, he was appointed Director of the Department for International Cooperation of the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment of the Russian Federation. At the same time he took over several additional international and national duties. He has participated in the meeting of European Union and the Russian Federation Permanent Partnership Council on Environment, 2nd Stakeholder Conference on the HELCOM Baltic Sea Action Plan (2007), 28th annual Meeting of HELCOM as Head of the Russian delegation.

Mr. Maydanov has vast experience in chairing international meetings. He is a Co-chair of Intergovernmental Committees on Trade and Economic Cooperation of the Russian Federation with South Africa, Angola, Namibia and Guinea, the political focal point for the Russian Federation, Armenia and Belarus in the Global Environment Facility, Chair of the negotiation process with the Republic of China on transboundary watercourses issues, member of the International Law Commission of the Russian non-government organization "Association of Russian Lawyers".

Family: wife Tatiana and son Nikita (16).

Hobby: South African history, diving, music.

Note to Editors:

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, Finland, Germany, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Russia, Sweden, and also the European Community.  

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