TEN Index

Apr. 16-30, 1996, Vol. 2, No. 8 


Transboundary News

PSKOV-RIGA-TALLINN-VILNIUS -- REPRESENTATIVES OF THE COMMON BORDER REGION between Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, and Russia met on April 23 in Pskov with the General Secretary of the Council of Europe, Daniel Tarzhis, and the head of the administration of Pskov Oblast, in order to create a Council of Border Regions. Although a firm decision to create the Council was taken, it is unclear what steps the Council will now take in order to coordinate most effectively economic and political cooperation in the region. Mr. Tarzhis noted that Europeans would like borders in the transboundary region to become "transparent" for all law-abiding citizens. (Chas Pik, 24 Apr.)

RIGA-VILNIUS -- NEGOTIATIONS OVER THE LATVIA-LITHUANIA SEA BORDER DISPUTE SHOW PROGRESS, according to the State Minister of Foreign Affairs, Juris Sinka, who is leading the Latvian delegation at the sea border talks with Lithuania, in Vilnius, Lithuania. Mr. Sinka said on April 23 that he is satisfied with the talks and considers that another step froward has been taken. Delegations from Lithuania and Latvia had taken the 1927 Latvia-Lithuania agreement as the starting point for negotiations. Latvia had agreed that part of the Lithuanian coast line includes the Kursu Joma (Kursu Strait) from which the Latvia-Lithuania sea border extends into the Baltic Sea. The talks were devoted entirely to the border issue. The next round of negotiations will take place in Riga on May 7, when Lithuania's President Algirdas Brazauskas visits Latvia. Both sides have expressed their desire to settle the dispute in a timely fashion. (LETA, Apr. 23)

TALLINN-MOSCOW -- RUSSIA'S MINISTRY FOR FOREIGN ECONOMIC RELATIONS has proposed that Estonia and Russia begin new trade negotiations to grant Estonia most-favored-nation trade status. Trade between the two countries has been limited due to Russia's decision to levy double duties on Estonian exports. The proposal from Russia is a continuation of an Estonian initiative to hold talks on bilateral trade agreements. Both parties signed a protocol of intentions in 1993, but since then relations between the two countries have cooled considerably. (Aripaev, 26 Apr.)

TALLINN-MOSCOW -- THE DEADLINE FOR RESIDENT ALIENS TO APPLY FOR RESIDENCE AND WORKING PERMITS by special order of the Estonian Citizenship and Migration Department passed on May 28. Resident aliens who did not present an application by that date will lose their right to pensions and social support beginning on July 13. Those who applied for residence permit based on this most recent special order have no right to participate in local municipality elections. People who presented their applications by July 12, 1995 can do so. (ETA, 29 Apr.)

NARVA RESERVOIR -- THE ESTONIAN DEPARTMENT OF BORDER GUARDS will install a powerful radar station in the port of Kulgu of the Narva reservoir which will help border guards on the Estonian- Russian border to monitor that part of the international border which goes through the Narva reservoir. This is the second radar to monitor the border of water surfaces in this northern section of the Estonian-Russian border. (Severnoe Poberezh'e, 19 Apr.)

TARTU-PSKOV -- ESTONIAN MINISTRIES OF FINANCE AND OF TRANSPORT AND COMMUNICATIONS have publicly disagreed on a highway project to connect Tallinn, through Tartu and Voru, with the existing St. Petersburg-Kiev Highway. Ministry of Transport representative Lembit Kiviloo stated that the project is without perspective for Estonia. The Via Russica project would include upgrading the existing Tallinn-Tartu road into a highway, connecting Tartu with Voru via Petseri (Pechora), and renovating the railway link from Valga to Pihkva (Pskov). Southeastern Estonia would in this way become a transit point from Russia to Scandinavia. The Ministry of Transport representative believes that the development of railways should be the sole main priority, as today only five percent of cargo traffic goes by highway. (ETA, 26 Apr.)

IVANGOROD-NARVA -- THE ESTONIAN PRIME MINISTER Tiit Vahi visited the Estonian-Russian border city of Narva on April 24-25. Mr. Vahi visited city hall, a grammar school, the Baltic Power Station, and the border checkpoint. He was greeted by two pickets, one by Russian citizens and a second by workers of the Kreenholn textile plant. Discussion with the first group was hastily ended after participants began to accuse Mr. Vahi of hostility towards Russia. The Kreenholm workers were protesting against a planned cutting of staff. The new owners intend to make up to 1,000 workers redundant. Mr. Vahi explained that the restructuring involves temporary loss of jobs, and stressed that the plant has already succeeded in reaching West European markets. (Sonumileht, 26 Apr.)

TORFIANOVKA BORDER POINT -- CONSTRUCTION OF A NEW CUSTOMS HOUSE on the Russian side of the border point has recommenced after financial difficulties in previous months had halted the progress of work. Finnish builders from the firm Hartela are completing the construction. The new customs house is expected to alleviate many of the difficulties which have now arisen at this border point because of the Russian side's inability to process adequately a high volume of traffic. (SPb Vedomosti, 18 Apr.)

Environmental News

TALLINN -- THE ESTONIAN PARLIAMENT HAS ADOPTED A NEW LAND REFORM LAW which is expected to speed up land privatization for private citizens by enabling them to privatize the land under their houses and summer cottages at half the previously existing cost. According to the law, foreigners can also privatize land for an unlimited period according to the farm law. Land can also be privatized by a foreign corporate body if its subsidiary has been registered in the Estonian business registry. (ETA, 30 Apr.)

VILNIUS -- LITHUANIA'S IGNALINA NUCLEAR POWER PLANT, the home of two Chernobyl-type reactors, remains a major source of concern to the Baltic state's Nordic neighbors, stated one Scandinavian diplomat in Vilnius. "There is a general level of concern in the Nordic countries about the possibility of an accident at Ignalina," he said. Ignalina supplies about 80 percent of Lithuania's electricity, making Lithuania the most nuclear-power dependent country in the world. Four reactors were originally planned for Ignalina, but construction on the third was halted in 1987 by massive public protests in the wake of the 1986 Chernobyl disaster. (Reuters, 26 Apr.)

RIGA -- POLICE IN LITHUANIA HAVE SEIZED 10 KILOGRAMS OF CAESIUM- 133 and arrested two men who were trying to sell it, the country's prosecutor's office said. Lithuania and Baltic neighbors Latvia and Estonia are suspected of being key gateways for the smuggling to the West of radioactive and rare metals pilfered from the former Soviet bloc. Caesium can be produced as a deadly by-product of nuclear fission but the prosecutor's office said the caesium-133 variety is not radioactive. It is, however, very poisonous. The two men were arrested in Kaunas after they tried to sell the metal, a prosecution statement said. (Reuters, 30 Apr.)

ST PETERSBURG -- A NEW PACKAGE OF ENVIRONMENTAL LEGISLATIVE BILLS have been transferred to the Petersburg Academic Center of the Academy of Science for expert review. The package would establish the "presumption of environmental guilt" for pollution and waste by industrial producers in the city, an approach which previous legislation did not contain. City environmental agencies will next review the Center's recommendations before the package of bills is presented to the City Assembly for final approval. (Vecher. Peterburg, 15 Apr.)

TALLINN -- THE EUROPEAN COUNCIL OF ECONOMY (ECE) HAS COMPLETED A SURVEY on the state of the Estonian environment, dealing with legal and institutional development, the organization of water and air protection, and refuse disposal. "It is a good document, both directing and comprehensive," Estonian Environment Minister Villu Reiljan told press at the presentation of the handbook. The survey has investigated the current situation, the latest trends but also trends for the future and corresponding political reactions. It is based on data collected during the past four years and was compiled by the ECE's working group and experts from five countries - the Czech Republic, Finland, France, Ukraine and Germany. (ETA, 26 Apr.)

SVETOGORSK, KARELIA -- THE GIANT SVETOGORSK PAPER PROCESSING PLANT is being converted by its new Swedish owners to operate on natural gas rather than oil. The gas energy source will produce less air pollution and is more economical for the plant than oil today, due to the high transportation costs of oil within Russia. The plant produces much of the cardboard used in Tetra packaging throughout Russia and the C.I.S. Improvements are also planned at the plant in future in order to make the present bleaching process of cardboard stock more environmentally safe. (Vesti, 16 Apr.)

ST PETERSBURG -- MORE THAN 350 UNOFFICIAL GARBAGE DUMPS EXIST within city limits and there are no measures being taken to remove them, according to one city official. District administrators in the city find it less expensive to pay fines regularly for the garbage dumps than to purchase the fuel required for trucks to remove the garbage, he said. City officials expect that a second garbage processing plant to be opened soon near Ianino will help alleviate the city's most serious garbage problems. (SPb Vedomosti, 18 Apr.)

ST PETERSBURG -- THE LARGE NUMBER OF RECENTLY OPENED PRIVATE GAS STATIONS in the city are playing a significant role in increasing air pollution in the city, according to a local environmental expert. Those gas stations often break the law by selling gasoline containing high levels of ethylene. (Smena, 16 Apr.)

TALLINN -- THE ESTONIAN GOVERNMENT HAS FORMED A DELEGATION for negotiations between Estonian and Latvian governments on in order to reach a fisheries agreement in the present "herring war." The Estonian delegation is headed by the director general of the Fisheries Department. The delegation will include the office chief of the Foreign Ministry, director of the Marine Institute, director general of the Marine Inspection, chairman of the Board of Estonian Fishermen Association, and department head of the Fisheries Department. (ETA, Apr. 30)

RIGA -- LATVIA SPENT SIGNIFICANTLY LESS LAST YEAR ON ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION than in the previous year, according to the Central Statistical Bureau of Latvia. About 36 million U.S. dollars were spent on environmental protection and the rational utilization of natural resources in Latvia in 1995, which represents a decrease of 45 percent in comparison with 1994, according to the Statistical Bureau. (LETA, 27 Apr.)

VYBORG-FINNISH BORDER -- HUNDREDS OF LITERS OF ALCOHOL POURED DAILY by Finnish customs officers onto the ground from passengers arriving from Russia are causing serious environmental damage to soil in the vicinity of the customs point, according to Finnish environmental experts. (Smena, 17 Apr.)

Conferences, Events, and Meetings

VISBY, SWEDEN -- BALTIC SEA NATION LEADERS WILL MEET in Visby to discuss future prospects for ensuring cooperation in the protection of the environment of the Baltic Sea. The Helsinki Commission (HELCOM) has prepared a new report to present at the meeting. The report mentions numerous ecological crisis areas in the Baltic Sea region. It is expected that the meeting will invite member nations to pay more attention to these problems, particularly by offering the nations of Eastern Europe more financial aid to solve ecological problems. Latvia is mentioned in the report as one of the few nations successfully realizing internationally supported programs aimed at reducing pollution of the Baltic Sea. The reconstruction of water and sewage treatment facilities in the cities of Liepaja and Daugavpils in Latvia are ecologically important projects now under way in the region. The meeting will take place on May 3 and 4. (LETA, 26 Apr.)

BALTIC SEA COUNTRIES -- BALTIC SEA NATION BUSINESSMEN SIGNED A DECLARATION of support for the sustainable economic development of their nations. Over 20 major businessmen signed the declaration, which includes recommendations for their governments. The free trade section of the declaration concerns largely Estonia. The declaration is similar to one written during the Hanseatic times of the Middle Ages, deeming that the Baltic Sea should be the center of a single unified economic region. The new declaration will be presented to heads of government of the Baltic Sea countries at their forthcoming meeting in Visby. (ETA, Apr. 25)

ST PETERSBURG -- ESTONIAN DEFENSE MINISTER ANDRUS OOVEL TOOK PART in the international conference "Security in the Baltic Sea Region" 27-28, according to the Defense Ministry's press service. Mr. Oovel made a report at the first day of the conference, which was chaired by Danish Defense Minister Hans Haekkerup. Mr. Oovel devoted his attention to Russia's aim of changing the Baltic Sea's legal status to a mare clausum. The conference was attended by Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Krylov, Finnish Foreign Minister Tarja Halonen, Mayor of St. Petersburg Anatoly Sobchak, and Norwegian Secretary of State Siri Bjerke. (ETA, April 25)

RIGA -- MORE THAN 200 LATVIAN AND NORWEGIAN ENTREPRENEURS participated in Norwegian Business Day in the city. The one-day visit of Norwegian businessmen to Latvia on April 23 was aimed at "returning to normal relations between Norway and Latvia," said Norwegian Prime Minister Gro Harlem Brundtland during a speech at the opening ceremony. Nearly 100 years ago Norway was one of the poorest countries in Europe but its trade fleet and natural resources resulted in an efficient development, she explained. According to the premier, Latvia's competitiveness will be ensured in future by its resources like woodland, construction materials, an inexpensive yet skilled work force, geographical position, and knowledge of the CIS market. (Baltic Times, Apr. 25)

TALLINN -- "FORESTRY 1996," THE LARGEST FORESTRY EXHIBITION in the Baltic states, took place on the Tallinn Exhibition Grounds from April 25-27. More than 60 Estonian and foreign companies occupied the grounds. Firms came from Scandinavia, Belgium, Germany, Latvia, and Switzerland. A record high number of participants took part in the annual exhibition. The exhibition included workshops on forestry trade, forestry policy, and the problems of individual forest growers. (ETA, Apr. 27)

ST PETERSBURG -- THE FIRST ORGANIZATIONAL MEETING FOR THE PROGRAM "ECOLOGY FOR ALL - 1996" was held at the Russian Geographic Society on April 17. The program will include several public activities concerning environmental education. The program is being organized by the city's Department of Environmental Protection and journalists of the newspaper "Iunyi Biolog". (Vecher. Peterburg, 16 Apr.)

New Facts and Statistics

ST PETERSBURG -- INDUSTRIAL PRODUCTION DECLINED in the city by about 50 percent over the course of the last five years, according to Minister of the Environment Viktor Danilov-Danil'ian in a recent interview. At the same time, atmospheric pollution has decreased by only 25 percent, solid waste pollution by only 14 percent, and industrial water pollution by only 10 percent. (Smena, 20 Apr.)

BALTIC SEA REGION -- More cargo passed through the Latvian port of Ventspils in 1995 than through any other port of the Baltic Sea. Cargo Handled (in millions of tons in 1995)

Ventspils Kotka Gdansk  Gdynia Szczecin Riga Tallinn Hamina Klaipeda Turku Helsinki Kaliningr. St. Petersburg

 29.6          8.4          18           7.6        15.5       7.4       13         5.3           12.7         3.5      10.2             3.5                10

(S╔numileht, 25 Apr.)

ESTONIA-RUSSIA -- Estonia lost its trade surplus with Russia in 1995 by importing a significantly larger value of goods from Russia than in the previous year. Estonia's Trade Balance with Russia 1994 1995 (in billions of kroons)

Estonian - Exports    Estonian - Imports     Estonian - Exports - Imports Foodstuffs    Transportation vehicles

 3.917   3.734                 3.487   4.532                                 33.6%   5.1%                                               18.7    9.5

Chemical products     Mineral products      Machines and equipment      Clothes     Furniture     Metals

    11.8   11.7                      11.1   48.4                             7.8   2.9                         5.1   5.1       3.5   0.1       2.4   8.9

(Postimees, 26 Apr.)


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