BALTIC STATES-FINLAND-RUSSIA -- THE EUROPEAN UNION PHARE PROGRAM HAS ALLOCATED 5 MILLION ECU TO ESTONIA FOR A BORDER AREAS COOPERATION PROGRAM. The European Union has earmarked five million ECU to finance tourism, agriculture, water purification and road construction projects in border areas of Estonia. These include the development of tourism in eastern Virumaa, the development of nature tourism in the two largest islands of Saaremaa and Hiiumaa and the western Laane County, the development of farm production in Saaremaa and Hiiumaa, an the purification of the Pandivere water protection area and the renovation of the Keila-Paldiski highway in Laane County. Estonian Finance Minister Mart Opmann and Arhi Palosuo, leader of the European Union delegation to Tallinn, signed the PHARE cooperation memorandum. The European Union intends to allocate another 14 million ECU for the development of border areas in the other two Baltic states. (ETA, 19 Jan.)
LAKE PEIPUS, ESTONIAN-RUSSIAN BORDER -- RUSSIAN FISHERMEN ON LAKE PEIPUS HAVE BEEN RESTRICTED TO ENTER THE ICE only through a temporary border station established near Gdov, on the eastern shore of the lake through which the Estonian-Russian border runs. Fishermen are requested to show their passport in which they must have a stamp of permission to enter the border zone of the lake. The reason for the restriction is that the national border of the Russian Federation began to being crossed illegally by large numbers of ice fishermen during the second half of December. (Pskovskaia Pravda, 31 Jan.)
ESTONIA-FINLAND -- ESTONIA SEEKS TO BUY ARMS FROM FINLAND, said the Commander-in-Chief of Estonian Defense Forces Johannes Kert during a recent visit in Helsinki. Kert who was visiting in Finland at the invitation of Commander-in-Chief of Finnish Defence Forces Gustav Hagglund. They discussed security issues in the Baltic Sea states and Eastern Europe, as well as closer cooperation between Estonia and Finland on defense. Kert said that Estonia's cooperation with Finland has significantly sped up development of Estonia's defense capacity. Finland has organized training for Estonian officers and several Finnish military specialists have visited Estonia for consultation. (ETA, 23 Jan.)
FINLAND-RUSSIA -- THE FINNISH FIRM NESTE AND GAZPROM OF RUSSIA have signed an agreement of intention to construct a new natural gas pipeline from northern Russia to Finland. The natural Gas would pass directly from Western Siberia and the rich Shtokmanovskii gas field in the Barents Sea. The Republic of Karelia has already given its agreement that the pipeline could run through Karelia. The future cost of the project is estimated to at several billion dollars. (SPb Vedomosti, 29 Jan.)
LITHUANIA-RUSSIA -- LITHUANIAN AND RUSSIAN BORDER NEGOTIATION DELEGATIONS have resolved to complete their work by the end of this year. The head negotiators Rimantas Sidlauskas for the Lithuanian side and his Russian colleague Aleksei Obukhov agreed that the delegation leaders and experts must meet as regularly as possible to took into the account the interests of both countries. The negotiations have lasted for three and one half years and disagreements now concern only the border line stretching via Lake Vistytis, the mouth of the Nemunas River, and Lagoon of Kursiu Marios. Dispute over a sea border also exists due to the controversial D-6 oil field situated in no man land's in the Baltic Sea. The delegations last met on January 16 in Moscow. (ELTA, 19 Jan.)
FINLAND-RUSSIA -- THE NEW FEDERAL LAW REGULATING IMPORT AND EXPORT TAXES WILL MAKE TIMBER EXPORT from Karelia highly unprofitable for timber companies working in the region. The new law adds an additional tax of 8-9 USD of export tax to each cubic meter of timber to be exported. According to one calculation, the new law will result in 100 FIM being paid in taxes, 50 FIM being paid in transportation, and only 30 FIM remaining in revenues from the 180 FIM paid per cubic meter by timber importers in Finland. The new law went into effect when it was published in December 1996. Forty-five percent of all timber production of Karelia is exported today. (Kareliia, 31 Jan.)
TORFIANOVKA BORDER STATION, RUSSIAN-FINNISH BORDER -- THE OFFICIAL OPENING CEREMONY OF THE NEWLY RECONSTRUCTED TORFIANOVKA BORDER STATION took place on January 15. The station now has a total of 26 lanes for vehicles (16 for trucks, 8 for cars, and two for buses) which replace the two previously operating lanes. The flow of traffic through the border station has increased by an average of 60 percent during the last five years. 150 border station employees will work here with the aid of a local area computer network of 70 work stations. The cost of the reconstruction was 37 million USD. (Vecher. Peterburg, 16 Jan.)
ESTONIA-FINLAND -- ESTONIA WILL BE READY FOR VISA-FREE TRAVEL WITH FINLAND BY SUMMER, according to Estonian Foreign Minister Toomas Ilves. He said that this summer is an entirely realistic deadline for launching visa-free travel. Ilves' Finnish counterpart Tarja Halonen voiced the same opinion last week. Most of the prerequisites for signing the visa freedom agreement are technical, Ilves said. The most important of these are the creation of a passport registry and the application of stickers with a machine-readable code to Estonian passports. Finland has allocated nearly 10 million kroons for the work. A visa-free travel agreement between Estonia and Norway is also in preparation and might be signed in 1997. A similar agreement is in preparation with Sweden. (ETA, 19 Jan.)
LAKE PEIPUS -- THE WATER LEVEL OF LAKE PEIPUS HAS FALLEN TO RECORD LOW LEVELS during the past 18-month period. The water level near Zhidilov Bor on the Russian shore of the lake has receded from 400 to 600 meters along the shore. The Pskov Hydrometeorological Center last year measured the lowest water level since the beginning of measurements on the lake in 906. The water surface of the lake has decreased to 3474 sq. kilometers, while its surface was calculated to have been as large as 4320 sq. kilometers during a high water-level period. Cycles of higher and lower water have been observed to have an average period of 24-30 years on the lake, which permits predictions of lake water levels. A reverse in water level direction is predicted to occur at the end of the 1990s when the lake's level will begin to rise. (Pskovskaia Pravda, 22 Jan.)
KARELIA -- THE BIOLOGICAL WASTE PROCESSING STATION OF THE SEGEZHABUMPROM PAPER COMBINAT was stopped in late December due to a fuel shortage and freezing temperature. The bacteria of the waste processing station, which help to cleanse the waste water before flows into the surrounding river and lake region, froze within the processing station. The bacteria are required to be kept at a 20 degree Celsius temperature. Two months will be required now in order that the bacteria be re-established in the necessary concentration for the station. The waste processing plant is the largest in northwestern Russia. (Delovoi Peterburg, 31 Jan.)
IGNALINA NUCLEAR PLANT, LITHUANIA -- IGNALINA NUCLEAR POWER PLANT PLANS AND TO INCREASE PRODUCTION by 388 million kWh in 1997. Its production in 1997 would total 14.33 bln kWh, according to the Ignalina nuclear plant press center. Ignalina nuclear plant's production accounts for 80 percent of the total Lithuanian electricity production. In 1996 Ignalina nuclear power plant worked at only 52.9 percent of its capacity. Its first and second reactors during the last year were stopped nine times. Ignalina nuclear plant employs 5,120 people. Last year 6,000 scientists, ministry and municipal officials, representatives of international organizations, teachers, students and journalists visited the plant. (ELTA, 19 Jan.)
ST. PETERSBURG -- OBVODNYI CANAL, CHERNAIA RECHKA, AND OTHER CITY OPEN WATER CANALS will begin to be cleaned in 1997 by dredging of the entire length of each canal. The bottom of many of the canals are polluted with toxic substances which have settled from years of waste water which was expelled directly into the canals from city factories. The Ministry of Economics of the Netherlands in cooperation with the city administration of St. Petersburg is funding the project. (Vecher. Peterburg, 16 Jan.)
LATVIA -- SUBSIDIES TO LATVIAN FARMERS THIS YEAR WILL REPRESENT 10.10 million lats (20 million USD), 2.5 times more than last year, according to the Latvian Ministry of Agriculture. Cattle farmers will receive 2.9 million, plant growers 2.7 million. 910.000 will go to agricultural science. 930.000 lats will cover 50 percent compound interest of farmers credits. Latvian farmers are in constant need of inexpensive credits. The quality of agricultural production will have to rise to meet high quality standards of the European Union, according to the Ministry. Currently in Latvia there are no certified quality test labs. 60.000 lats are assigned to create a seed growing lab, 200.000 to a food products inspection. (LETA, 19 Jan.)
IDA-VIRU, NORTHEASTERN ESTONIA -- SOME PEATSTACKS OF THE ORU PEAT FACTORY ARE STILL SMOLDERING, according to Deputy Chief of the Ida-Viru Fire and Rescue Department Sergei Aleksandrov. He said that and if no measures are taken the whole peat field could burst into flame again in spring. Last autumn a large fire raged in the Oru peat fields and cost the factory millions of kroons in damages. As a partial result of those losses, the factory is now in bankruptcy. Six Oru Peat factory workers have gone on hunger strike over unpaid wages which many workers have not been received since July of last year. The Estonian press has widely reported that many schoolchildren of the village are weak with hunger and have fainted during classes because their parents cannot afford to buy them food. (ETA, 23 Jan.)
IISAKU, ESTONIA -- A NEW TIMBER PROCESSING PLANT has started operations in Iisaku in eastern Virumaa. A Swedish company Wallska Tra AB has pledged to purchase the production of the new facility until the year 2000. Raivo Raap, managing director of the firm Ware which owns and operates the new plant, says that the project cost 8.5 million kroons. A number of Swedish companies played a role in the establishment of the new production facility. In addition to leasing the necessary machinery to Estonian contractors, the Swedes helped with training and installation of the equipment. The plant should help alleviate the very high unemployment in eastern Virumaa. (Aripaev, 16 Jan.)
SOSNOVY BOR -- FUNDS FOR THE CONSTRUCTION OF A NEW REACTOR AT SOSNOVY BOR have been included in the federal budget for this year. The reactor will be of the new VVER-640 series. 90 billion rubles (15.9 million USD) have been allocated for this work and non-federal funding will also be sought. It will be one of the first new reactors to be built in Russia since the collapse of the Soviet Union. (Nevskoe Vremiia, 23 Jan.)
KIRISHI-BATAREINAIA BAY, RUSSIA -- APPROVAL HAS BEEN GIVEN BY LENINGRAD OBLAST FOR THE CONSTRUCTION OF THE NEW OIL PIPELINE ROUTE from Kirishi, which lies southeast of St. Petersburg, to Batareinaia Bay on the Gulf of Finland. The new pipeline will cover 320 kilometers within the oblast and cover a route through which has never had pipeline. Two pipes will be constructed: one for crude oil and the other for already refined fuels. Giprospetsgaz is responsible for the engineering of the new piepeline. The pipeline is expected to lower by one-half the cost of oil transport costs by railway to Batareinaia Bay. (Delovoi Peterburg, 31 Jan.)
ST. PETERSBURG -- THE PARTIALLY CONSTRUCTED DAM which passes through the island of Kronshtadt in the Gulf of Finland and is designed to protect the city from flooding will receive state funding in 1997 for continued construction of the dam. The funding represents 199 billion rubles (35 million USD) and will come entirely from the federal budget. (Smena, 28 Jan.)
ESTONIA -- WIND- AND WATER-GENERATED ELECTRICITY WILL BE EXEMPT FROM VALUE ADDED TAX FOR THE NEXT TEN YEARS in Estonia, according to a bill adopted by the Estonian parliament on January 28. Jaanus Mannik of the Finance Committee said that up to 10 percent of Estonia's energy needs might be supplied by wind and hydroelectric stations, mainly on the two largest islands of Saaremaa and Hiiumaa but also on smaller inhabited islands along the Estonian mainland. Andres Tarand, member of the Environment Committee, pointed out that in the Estonia, electricity grids lose 20 percent of their electricity while in Germany the losses of energy in transport amount to only 3 percent. The parliament rejected one clause of the bill which would have allowed VAT-free import of the parts and batteries used in this type of power stations, as parliament members warned of possibilities for fraud based on the clause. (ETA, 28 Jan.)
LATVIA -- BIRCH TREES ARE TO BE PLANTED ON UNCULTIVATED LAND by the Latvian plywood producer Latvijas Finieris. The firm has signed a memorandum of intent with the Latvian forestry authorities to develop a program of growing birch on lands otherwise unsuitable for agriculture. The birch trees would be used as raw material for producing plywood and veneer. The company uses around 300,000 cubic meters of raw material each year. Once the feasibility studies are completed, Latvijas Finieris will start developing unsuitable lands as birch plantations during the course of this year. (LETA, 27 Jan.)
KLAIPEDA, LITHUANIA -- THE KLAIPEDA OIL TERMINAL IS TO BECOME SAFER after installation of a new fire prevention system by the Dutch company Tebodin, according to officials at the oil terminal. The terminal should now be able to be run with a high level of safety, fire prevention experts said. Klaipeda oil terminal is also to start installing Dutch wastewater treatment equipment and to carry out other safety-oriented terminal reconstruction, which is to be finished in May. (ELTA, 23 Jan.)
SOSNOVY BOR ATOMIC STATION -- THE SAFETY SYSTEM OF THE SOSNOVY BOR will now be run on new batteries produced by the German firm Varta. The European Bank of Reconstruction and Development has financed the purchase of the batteries as humanitarian aid. Delivery of the batteries has been delayed because of Russian Customs' demand that import taxes be paid on the batteries. (Delovoi Peterburg, 17 Jan.)
PETROZAVODSK -- A NEW WASTE WATER PROCESSING PLANT IS PLANNED FOR EIGHT CONSTRUCTION FACTORIES whose waste waters now flow directly through a drainage canal into Lake Onega. It is estimated that the factories now discharge 1590 cubic meters of waste water each day. Oil products have been measured to be the largest pollutants in the waste water. (Petrozavodsk, 17 Jan., Kareliia, 24 Jan.)
FINLAND-NORWAY-RUSSIA -- A MEETING FOR THE PREPARATION OF THE NOMINATION OF THE TERRITORY OF THE GREEN FOREST BELT OF SCANDINAVIA as a site of UNESCO World Heritage was held on the island of Vilm in Germany on 29-31 Jan. Twenty-nine environmental experts from Russia, Finland, Sweden, Norway, and Germany took part in the meeting. It was organized by the German Federal Agency of Environmental Protection. The future nomination will be presented by either a bilateral or multilateral proposal of Russia, Finland, and/or Norway. Proposals from both government and non-government organizations were considered at the meeting. The importance of old-growth forest in the region was emphasized at the meeting. Contact Sergei Tsyplenkov, Greenpeace Russia, e-mail gpmoscow@glas.apc.org, and Alexander Karpov (concerning Leningrad Oblast), SPb Society of Naturalists, e-mail ask@val1.usr.pu.ru. (TEIA)
TALLINN -- AN ESTONIAN SUSTAINABLE HUMAN DEVELOPMENT PROGRAM HAS BEEN LAUNCHED by the UN Development Program in Estonia. The Estonian government and the Tallinn branch of Stockholm Environment Institute signed an agreement on January 27 which outlines preparations for working out a sustainable human development program for Estonia. The aim of the agreement is to place Estonia among these countries that have their own Agenda 21 sustainable development program by the end of 1998. The agreement was signed at a sustainable development conference held in Tallinn for Central and Eastern European countries. Delegates from 18 countries and from the United Nations, as well as government representatives from the Nordic countries, attended the conference. The conference was hosted by the Tallinn branch of the Stockholm Environment Institute. (ETA, 27 Jan.)
ST. PETERSBURG -- AN ENVIRONMENTAL ATLAS OF ST. PETERSBURG HAS BEEN PUBLISHED after ten years of field work and preparation. The atlas contain maps of a wide variety of pollution measurements in the city and Leningrad Oblast. Traces of the Chernobyl accident are still measurable to this day in certain parts of the oblast, according to the authors of the atlas. Other maps show that the city's partially constructed dam does not yet obstruct the flow or circulation of water into the Gulf of Finland from the city of St. Petersburg. Although the atlas exists only in a printed format today, plans exist for the atlas to be produced electronically. (TEIA)
LOMONOSOV, RUSSIA -- THE METEOROLOGICAL STATION OF LOMONOSOV will be closed in the immediate future. The station is located about 50 kilometers from St. Petersburg and has been in continuous operation since 1918, including during the Second World War. The station's measurements have been particularly important for local fishermen, who will now have to rely on meteorological information from Kronshtadt. The station is being closed because of lack of federal budget funding. (Vesti, 21 Jan.)
PSKOV, RUSSIA -- A VISIT FROM A REPRESENTATIVE OF THE NORTHERN VIDZEME NATURE PROTECTION COMPLEX OF LATVIA to Pskov took place on January 15. Arnis Berzins, a Latvian zoologist, sought to renew contacts with colleagues from Goskompriroda, especially in the realm of border negotiations and transboundary pollution issues between Latvia and Russia. As a result of the visit, a preliminary agreement for cooperation has reached between Pskov Oblast and the Latvian Ministry of the Environment. (TEIA)
VILNIUS -- THE WORLD BANK IS TO CONTINUE FINANCING LITHUANIAN ENVIRONMENT PROJECTS. Lithuanian Minister of the Environment Imantas Lazdinis met World Bank consultants to discuss future implementation of Lithuanian environmental projects and their financing. The World Bank experts also visited the environmental projects to be financed. At present the World Bank is providing financing for the construction of wastewater treatment plants in Siauliai and Klaipeda. Due to high inflation and other reasons, these projects ran short of money for completion. In order to finish Klaipeda's water cleaning plant construction, Lithuania needs about 6 million USD. World Bank representatives also met with experts from Sweden and Finland about financing of such projects. (ELTA, 19 Jan.)
ST. PETERSBURG -- A VOLUNTEER ORGANIZATION TO SAVE THE BOTANICAL GARDEN of the city was recently founded. Members of the organization represent business, cultural, and scientific spheres. The Botanical Garden of St. Petersburg was created in 1713 by decree of Peter the Great and has a collection of more than 12,000 types of flora from throughout the world. (Nevskoe Vremiia, 23 Jan.)
PSKOV, RUSSIA-TARTU, ESTONIA -- ESTONIAN AND RUSSIAN BUSINESSMEN MET for a wide range of negotiations in Pskov on January 28-29. It was the first such meeting in Pskov between Estonians and Russians since the collapse of the Soviet Union. The Commercial House of Pskov and the Educational Center NORT of Tartu organized the meeting. Estonian firms sought in particular to find business partners for food products, construction, and automobile parts. (Novosti Pskova, 29 Jan.)
ESTONIA - ESTONIAN FISH PRODUCERS EXPORTED 81.4 PERCENT OF THEIR PRODUCTION in 1996 with revenues earned of 727.8 million kroons from abroad. Only 18.6 percent of their production was marketed in Estonia with revenues of 166.7 million kroons. The largest export markets were to Russia and to Ukraine with 62.5 and 11.4 percent of the total exports. Fish producers sold their production to Russia for 455 million kroons and to Ukraine for 83 million kroons. Canned fish was the most popular export to Eastern markets. European Union countries mainly imported fish fingers and fresh fish. (Postimees, 2 Jan.)
ESTONIA-FINLAND -- ESTONIA WAS THE MOST POPULAR TOURIST DESTINATION of Finland in 1996 and the most popular destination of Estonian tourists was Finland. Two thirds of all tourists who came to Estonia during the first nine months of 1996 were Finnish. The share of Finnish tourists fell by 3 percent in comparison with 1995 as even more tourists came from Norway, Denmark, the U.S., Canada and Great Britain. A total of 2.5 million foreigners stayed more than two days in Estonia in 1996, or 20 percent more than in 1995. (ETA, 19 Jan.)