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16.06.2004

Vast agenda discussed during the 15th regular meeting of HELCOM Heads of Delegations

The Heads of Delegations to the Helsinki Commission held their regular 15th Meeting in Helsinki, Finland, 14-15 June to focus on ongoing projects, programmes and intersessional work. The Meeting was hosted by the Chair of HELCOM, Ms. Inese Vaidere.

Heads of Delegations together with representatives of the International Financial Institutions (IFIs) considered continued future cooperation between the parties. Both sides stressed that there are valuable mutual benefits of cooperation. It was decided to have annual consultation sessions in order to exchange information and promote financing of environmental projects in the Baltic Sea region.

After discussing the issue of Environmental Impact Assessment in Transboundary Context and different interpretations of the existing legal requirements the meeting decided to establish an ad hoc Working Group to analyse the existing regulations and requirements and come up with relevant proposals, including unified interpretations and clear procedures in order to ensure a harmonized implementation of the principles applicable in the Baltic Sea region. The ad hoc Working Group will be chaired by Finland and is open for participation by all Contracting Parties. The ad hoc Working Group will report to the next Heads of Delegations meeting and finalize its work before the 26th meeting of the Helsinki Commission to be held March 2005.

The health status of Baltic Sea seal populations, the increase in grey seal numbers and the conflicts between seals and the fishermen was also an issue at the Meeting. The Meeting decided to further develop concepts for conservation/management guidelines for seal populations jointly with the International Council for the Exploration of the Seas (ICES) and the European Commission.

In order to identify concrete proposals to reduce inputs of nutrients to combat eutrophication the Meeting decided to initiate activities to assess 1) the implications of different policy scenarios in the Baltic Sea countries on the changes in inputs of nutrients to the Baltic Sea with the final aim to enable the identification of cost-effective measures, 2) the sources of airborne nitrogen deposited to the Baltic Sea, in order to come up with solutions to reduce pollution from the identified sources, and 3) the significance of transboundary pollution and the most important sources of nutrients and selected heavy metals in Belarus, Ukraine and the Czech Republic.

Considering the environmental impacts of fisheries the Meeting decided that HELCOM will take active part in the work of the Regional Advisory Council (RAC) in the Baltic Sea, to represent the interests of the Baltic Sea environment.

The Meeting underlined the importance of raising awareness and involving young people in environmental issues. The Heads of Delegations supported Germany’s offer to arrange and host the next Youth Forum in 2005. The first such forum where students from the countries around the Baltic Sea discussed issues related to the Baltic Sea environment took place in Helsinki this year during HELCOMs 30-years celebrations.

Next meeting of the Heads of Delegations will be held 4-5 November 2004 in Helsinki, Finland.

Contacts

HELCOM Secretariat

Mr Nikolay Vlasov
Information Secretary
Tel: +358 9 6220 2235
Fax: +358 9 6220 2239