On 4 April during the meeting with Lithuanian Vice-Minister of Foreign Affairs Evaldas Ignatavičius in Vilnius, Belarusian Ambassador to Lithuania Vladimir Drazhin admitted that Belarus had not completed the international environmental impact assessment (EIA) process of the nuclear power plant (NPP) that is planned to be constructed in Belarus and informed that a detailed reply to Lithuania’s questions was currently being prepared, the urm.lt reported.
The Ambassador handed in the note, which states that Belarus meets all the requirements of the 1991 international Convention on Environmental Impact Assessment in a Transboundary Context (Espoo Convention) for the nuclear power plant construction.
Lithuanian Foreign Vice-Minister stressed that Belarus had to prepare and provide detailed information and exhaustive, reasoned answers to all the questions that were particularly relevant to Lithuanian experts and the public. Lithuania will continue to insist on strict international control of the planned NPP in Belarus.
On 14 March, Vice-Minister E.Ignatavičius gave a note of protest to the Belarusian Ambassador to Lithuania Vladimir Drazhin regarding the claims of Belarusian officials that Lithuania did not object to the EIA report in accordance with the Espoo Convention in regard to the planned construction of the Belarusian NPP.
The note repeatedly reasserts that the international EIA process of the planned construction of the Belarusian NPP is not complete, as Belarus has not carried out the EIA in compliance with the generally accepted international legal norms, has not organized public hearings in Lithuania and bilateral consultations of Lithuania and Belarus in accordance with the provisions of the Espoo Convention.
During a telephone conversation with Minister of Foreign Affairs of Belarus Sergei Martynov of 30 March, Lithuanian Minister of Foreign Affairs Audronius Ažubalis also reminded about Lithuania’s unanswered questions.
At the meeting, E.Ignatavičius and V.Drazhin also discussed issues of cooperation between Belarus and the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), bilateral cooperation, etc.
