Minsk to host 7th Meeting of Parties to Espoo Convention in June 2017

MINSK, 15 March (BelTA) – The 7th Meeting of the Parties to the Espoo Convention is expected to take place in Minsk in June 2017, Belarus' First Deputy Minister of Natural Resources and Environment Protection Iya Malkina, who is attending the 35th session of the Espoo Convention Implementation Committee in Geneva, told BelTA in a telephone conversation.

“Following the current session, the Espoo Convention Implementation Committee will work out recommendations for us and Lithuania for the next, 7th Meeting of the Parties, which is due to take place in Minsk in June 2017,” Iya Malkina explained.

According to the First Deputy Minister, Belarus is ready for regular good-neighborly and bona fide cooperation with Lithuania on nuclear security issues. We have already invited the Lithuanian side and members of the Espoo Convention Implementation Committee to Ostrovets to receive all necessary information on any technical issues. We hope to see constructive approaches from Vilnius,” she stressed.

The 35th session of the Implementation Committee of the Convention on Environmental Impact Assessment in a Transboundary Context (Espoo Convention) is running in Geneva, Switzerland on 15-17 March. The Implementation Committee invited Belarus and Lithuania to attend the meeting on the first day. The Belarusian delegation will be led by First Deputy Natural Resources and Environmental Protection Minister Iya Malkina. The delegation also includes Belarusian Deputy Energy Minister Mikhail Mikhadyuk.

The United Nations Economic Commission for Europe's Convention on Environmental Impact Assessment in a Transboundary Context (Espoo Convention) expects the signatories to notify and consult each other about all the major projects that can have a considerable negative transboundary impact on the environment. Belarus signed the Convention on 8 February 2006.

BelTA reported earlier that in June 2011 Lithuania contacted the Espoo Convention Implementation Committee complaining about Belarus' failure to observe the Convention while planning the construction of the Belarusian nuclear power plant. After looking into the matter the Committee and later on the Meeting of the Parties to the Convention gave recommendations both to Belarus and Lithuania on ways to ensure the fulfillment of the Convention with regard to the Belarusian nuclear power plant project. The recommendations also encouraged the two countries to work together.

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