TEN Index

Feb. 1-15, 1997, Vol. 3, No. 3


Transboundary News

RUSSIA-BALTIC STATES -- RUSSIA HAS PUBLICLY OPPOSED BALTIC STATE MEMBERSHIP IN NATO. Russia, which has sought to be the advocate of good neighborly relations with the Baltic States, has opposed their aspirations to join NATO. "Membership of the Baltic states in NATO would become a serious barrier in their ties with Russia and would affect formation of a long-term cooperation model in the region," a document signed by Russian President Boris Yeltsin said. The statement, called "a long-term line", sets forth in an official way the Russian view on geopolitical role of the Baltic states. The statement notes that the strategic goal of Russia in the region is for the creation of good neighborly ties between Russia and Baltic states, based on economic integration, bilateral economic interaction, and respect for human and national minorities rights. (ELTA, 15 Feb.)

ESTONIA-RUSSIA -- THE ESTONIAN-RUSSIAN BORDER AGREEMENT COULD BE SIGNED BEFORE A FINAL COORDINATION OF MAPS. Estonian-Russian border agreement could be signed before solving the differences in maps that have emerged lately and these problems will then be solved by border experts after the agreement is signed, Foreign Ministry spokesman Juri Arusoo said on February 14. The head of the Russian delegation at the border negotiations Vassili Svirin noted that when Russian and Estonian maps concerning the border between the two states were compared "a large number of differences and inconsistencies" were found and more time will be needed to solve these problems as well as one regular round of talks. Svirin said that the whole process will take several more months because when the border agreement is being signed, maps defining the border absolutely identically must be added to it. Svirin said that next week the maps will be sent for Russian ministries approval. Arusoo said that Estonian Foreign Ministry noted already in January when the Russian side presented its maps to Estonia that the description of border in the Russians' maps differed greatly from the description in the Estonian maps. (ETA, 15 Feb.)

ESTONIA-LATVIA -- ESTONIA AND LATVIA HAVE SIGNED A FISHERIES AGREEMENT. Estonian Prime Minister Tiit Vahi and his Latvian colleague Andris Shkele signed a fisheries agreement between the governments of the two states on February 6 that will allow both states' fishermen fishing in each other's territorial waters. The agreement concerns cooperation on research, protection of fish reserves, and cooperation in the repair of fishing vessels and on fish processing. An Estonian-Latvian working group is to be formed that will coordinate solutions to possible problems and give consultations. Estonia and Latvia started fisheries talks in March 1995 but then the talks got stalled because of lack of a border agreement and because of the "herring war" between Estonian and Latvian fishermen last spring. There have been no conflicts between Estonian and Latvian fishermen in recent months and Livonian Bay has not been the site of further dispute. Vaarja said that a committee of Estonian and Latvian fisheries' specialists will convene every year in order to update the agreement with protocols on the numbers of vessels and fishing quotas. (ETA, 6 Feb.)

VILNIUS-MOSCOW -- LITHUANIA AND RUSSIA ARE SEEKING TO EASE MUTUAL TRAVEL FOR BUSINESSMEN. Lithuanian and Russian diplomats have agreed in principle to seek an easier issuing of multiple-entry visas to businessmen and cultural officials travelling between both states. This week the delegations of Lithuanian and Russian foreign ministries held consultations on implementation of provisional bilateral agreement on mutual travelling. Director of Consular Division in Lithuanian foreign ministry Vaidotas Verba said that the diplomats of both sides conferred on the possibilities of concluding a bilateral visa-free agreement to become effective for holders of diplomatic passports. "Conclusion of such document will be possible solely after the final phasing out of Soviet passports in Russia," Verba said. (ELTA, 13 Feb.)

RIGA-VILNIUS -- LATVIA WANTS TO RESUME SEA BORDER NEGOTIATIONS WITH LITHUANIA. The Latvian Foreign Ministry has in recent weeks twice proposed to meet with Lithuanian officials about resuming the negotiations. However, the Lithuanian government considers the sea border not to be a highly important issue, according to Latvian officials. Lithuanian PM Gediminas Vagnoris has replied that before starting consultations and talks begin, both countries have to be well prepared. The Latvian Prime Minister Andris Shkele and Lithuanian Prime Minister Gediminas Vagnorius noted publicly at a February 6 meeting in Tallinn that the experience of Estonia and Latvia in concluding the sea border agreement was a good example for solving the Lithuanian and Latvian border conflict. (Neatkariga, 6 Feb.)

TALLINN-MOSCOW -- THE RED PASSPORT'S VALIDITY AS AN OFFICIAL DOCUMENT WILL SOON EXPIRE IN ESTONIA. The so-called "red passport" or former Soviet Union passport for domestic travel is not valid in Estonia starting May 15 as an identification document, Estonian government decided on February 11. The decision of the government means in essence that by May 15 all foreign citizens residing in Estonia will have to have a foreigner's passport or they have to have a passport of any other state than Estonia, Justice Minister Paul Varul told a press conference. Varul said that the government was of the position that the validity of the red passport as an ID document must be terminated already before but up to now it was not decided when exactly this should happen. Director of Citizenship and Migration Department Andres Kollist has said repeatedly that the validity of the red passport must be ended as soon as possible. For this reason, the department has also tried to speed up the issuing of foreigners passports. (ETA, 11 Feb.)

STOCKHOLM-VILNIUS -- SWEDEN AND LITHUANIA HAVE AGREED ON A VISA-FREE BORDER REGIME beginning on May 1. Lithuania will be the first country among the three Baltic states to sign a visa-free travel agreement with Sweden. Among other issues, a recent Lithuanian delegation held talks in Stockholm with their Swedish counterparts on the possibility of enhancing a joint gas pipe network in a bid to reduce Lithuania's dependence on Russian fuel suppliers. (ELTA, 11 Feb.)

Environmental News

LUGA, RUSSIA -- UNTREATED SEWAGE FROM THE TOWN OF LUGA IS NOW FLOWING DIRECTLY INTO THE LUGA RIVER, previously one of the cleanest rivers in Leningrad Oblast. The processing plant which has been working for fifteen years in Luga has long been in need of repair and has finally stopped working. Residents of the larger city of Kingisepp, which is located downstream on the Luga River, depend in large part on the river for their own drinking water. Water flow is now irregular into many Kingisepp homes as residents have had to find other water sources. More serious problems are expected later in the spring as the river current increases with snow melt. (Smena, 11 Feb.)

ESTONIA-LATVIA -- ESTONIAN AND LATVIAN GAS NETWORKS ARE TO BE CONNECTED. Estonian Gas is opening a new gas pipeline that is to link Estonia's natural gas network to Latvian underground gas reservoirs. A new gas metering station will be opened at the Estonian-Latvian border on February 15. Estonian Gas has invested nearly 25 million kroons to create the open circular system. Technical director of AS Estonian Gas Tiit Kullerkupp said that the new pipeline will greatly increase the reliability of natural gas supplies as Estonia will not in the future be dependent on Russian supplies alone. He added that Estonian consumers may in the next ten to twenty years start to receive gas also from Finland if the Finnish Bay underwater gas pipeline project is carried out. Kullerkupp said that another aim of construction of the pipeline was to end at last speculation about cuts in gas supplies. He added that there have been no cuts in supplies and Estonian Gas has had no debts to Russian Gazprom in the last three years. (ETA, 13 Feb.)

LITHUANIA -- PHARE SUPPORT IS TO CONTINUE TO LITHUANIAN AGRICULTURE. Lithuania completed fourteen agricultural projects under PHARE support and is carrying out nine more. Foreign agriculture experts will take part in Lithuanian projects for developing grain production technologies, strategic planning of greenhouses, and agricultural enterprises restructuring schemes. Such many-sided aid programs will prove useful to Lithuania on its way to joining the European Union, said Richard Moreton, coordinator of PHARE agricultural programs. This year PHARE funds will be concentrated in particular on agricultural service sector development, land-reclamation, and food quality control system improvement. (ETA, 6 Feb.)

VILNIUS -- THE VILNIUS CITY DRINKING WATER NEEDS MORE IMPROVEMENT IN QUALITY. According to Vilniaus Vandenys Co. Director General Arunas Makauskas, the capital's residents are supplied with drinking water which is disinfected, but not processed in any other way. Although the water complies with biological safety standards, manganese and iron concentrations are rather high, the head of the water supplying enterprise said. The Vilnius city council has agreed to call on a Danish firm's assistance in a bid to remove iron from the drinking water. (ELTA, 12 Feb.)

NORTHEASTERN ESTONIA -- THE FATE OF A BILLION-PLANT FERTILIZER PLANT IS TO BE DECIDED within the coming month. A technical- economic report will soon be finalized after which fertilizers producer Nitrofert and its owner, Russian Gazprom, will decide whether to build a methanol plant costing about 2 billion kroons to Kohtla-Jarve, in northeastern Estonia. The technical director of Nitrofert Tonis Puusepp said that at present no concrete decision of erecting the plant has been taken. German company Linde GmbH has prepared an economic report on necessary investments, predicted the price of production and market conditions on the basis of which Gazprom will make a decision on whether to build the plant or not. In the case the plant is built, Linde will be one of the companies carrying out construction work. The planned production capacity of the plant is 450,000 tons per year and one of the possible financiers of the project would be Deutsche Bank. (Aripaev, 12 Feb.)

LITHUANIA -- THE WORLD BANK IS UNSATISFIED WITH THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE LITHUANIAN ENERGY SECTOR. Lithuania had made a significant progress in agriculture and banking fields, however a lot of problems remained unsolved in its energy sector and the situation must be improved, said Marcelo Giugale, chief of the World Bank mission in Vilnius, at a recent meeting with Lithuanian Prime Minister Gediminas Vagnorius. World Bank experts had approved a program for privatization of state banks worked out by Lithuanian finance ministry and gave an evaluation of it as a very qualified one, government spokesperson told ELTA. But the mission is worried about the growing debt of municipal and budget institutions for energy supplies. World Bank experts urged Lithuanian authorities to improve the nation's pension system in order to avoid high social security fund deficits in the future. (ELTA, 11 Feb.)

LITHUANIA-RUSSIA -- RUSSIAN OIL WILL NOW BE SOLD TO LITHUANIA WITHOUT ANY PRICE REDUCTION. Lithuania soon is to pay the world market price for Russian oil, the paper Lietuvos Rytas reports in a recent article on the stoppage of Mazeikiai oil refinery due to severe crude oil shortages. Russian crude oil in the amount of 320 thousand tons was supposed to flow to Mazeikiai in February, however there is no guarantee that the full amount will be received. The main reason for oil supply disruption is a document issued last October by the Russian economy ministry prices department together with the fuel and energy ministry. It states that Lithuania is from now on to be treated as "a remote foreign country, "which means that it must pay for the oil in accordance with world prices." Currently the Mazeikiai refinery pays between 115 and 120 dollars for a ton of Russian oil. (ELTA, Feb. 4)

Conferences, Events, and Meetings

HELSINKI-RIGA -- LATVIAN-FINNISH ECOTOURISM HAS RECEIVED BILATERAL GOVERNMENT SUPPORT. Latvian-Finnish ecotourism agreement has been signed, providing financial support for the future development of the Latvian Kurzeme coastal zone. The Finnish government has assigned 100.000 lats to the project, which will be carried out by the Finnish organization Metsahallitus - Forest and Park Services. Kurzeme Beach was once a closed Soviet army zone and is slated to be one of the first coastal sites to be developed. The zone's military buildings and other constructions have been left largely intact. (LETA, 10 Feb.)

LATVIA -- THE EUROPEAN UNION PHARE PROGRAM HAS ALLOCATED 2.6 MILLION ECU to promote land reform in Latvia, according to PHARE Latvia project head Eric Gilbert. A future second stage of the project, aimed at speeding up land privatization and registration, will last until March 1998. Landbooks and the State Forest Service's records are going to be computerized. So far the main obstacle to land reform in Lativa has been a number of bureaucratic organizations which slow down property registration. (Diena, 11 Feb.)

STOCKHOLM -- THE ESTONIAN-SWEDISH CHAMBER OF COMMERCE (ESCC) WAS FOUNDED in Stockholm on February 4 in order to promote the trade interests of both countries. The chamber of commerce was called into being due to the steady growth of trade between Estonia and Sweden and a wish to boost investments. The Chamber helps to hold bilingual contacts and raises the availability of information to a higher level, said Okke Metsmaa, chairman of the board of ESCC. "Good and current information is a precondition for Estonian enterprises who wish to be successful in Sweden. Swedes will also profit from direct contacts with Estonian companies," Metsmaa said. The new organization has already formed good relations with import and export companies in both countries, Metsmaa said. (ETA, 4 Feb.)

RIGA -- SWEDISH AID WILL CONTINUE TO BALTIC FARMERS. The heads of Swedish and Baltic States Farmers Federations met on February 3 in Riga to discuss further cooperation, coordination with the PHARE program, and Baltic farmers' integration into the European Union market. Chairman of the European Farmers Confederation and Swedish Farmers Federation Hans Jonsson said that Swedish farmers were ready to offer any kind of assistance. "We are ready to help as much as it is needed. However, your farmers will have to work hard themselves," he said at a press conference. The Swedish Farmers Federation is the only foreign organization having direct links with Baltic farmers. (LETA, 4 Feb.)

VILNIUS -- SEVEN MILLION LITAS IN UN AID HAS GONE TO LITHUANIAN AGRICULTURE in the last three years. The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) aid to Lithuanian agriculture projects during three years amounted to 7 million litas, a Lithuanian agriculture ministry said recently. Last year alone FAO experts and specialists carried out agricultural, environmental, forestry, fishery and other development projects, total value of which amounted to 3 million litas. Lithuanian agriculture and forestry minister Vytautas Knasys evaluated FAO financial and technical aid as essential support for Lithuanian agriculture on its way to integration into European Union structures and World Trade Organization (WTO). (ELTA, 4 Feb.)

LATVIAN-RUSSIAN BORDER -- BALTIC MEMBERS OF PARLIAMENT INSPECTED the Latvian-Russian border and found it too 'transparent' and technically bad equipped, concluded the Baltic Assembly Committee after a two days inspection trip along Latvia's eastern border. The committee, which included 20 Latvian, Lithuanian, and Estonian deputies, inspected several frontier control posts and met Daugavpils frontier guards battalion. (LETA, 3 Feb.)

LATVIAN-RUSSIAN BORDER -- THE LATVIAN AND RUSSIAN STATE RAILWAYS have agreed to build a joint frontier post at the border town of Sebeza, according to Deputy Director General Stanislavs Boiko. Construction of a single joint post will costs about 80 million dollars and permit a savings of an additional 40 million if two such stations were built. The construction will begin next year. (LETA, 3 Feb.)

LAKE PEIPUS REGION -- THE INSTALLATION OF A NEW POWERFUL TELEVISION TRANSMITTER IS PLANNED for the Lake Peipus area on the Russian side. The transmittor would permit Russian programming to be viewed in the Russian-language region of Estonia on the eastern shore of Lake Peipus. A viewing area of a radius of eighty kilometers would result from the installation of the new transmittor. (Pskovskaia Pravda, 13 Feb.)

New Data and Statistics

ESTONIA -- ESTONIA SENDS THE LARGEST AMOUNT OF ITS FOOD EXPORTS TO RUSSIA. Estonia sold 38 percent of its exported food to Russia in 1996, an increase over the previous year. Ukraine follows Russia as the second-largest importer of Estonian foodstuffs. The export of milk products to Russia continues to be popular and in 1996 8500 tons of butter and 4400 tons of cheese were exported there, considerably more than in 1995. Estonian canned fish (32,000 tons), confectionery (1,200 tons) and chocolate (4,400 tons) continue to be popular exports to Russia. While in previous years Russia also imported up to 50,000-60,000 tons of meat a year, last year it bought only 500 tons in Estonia. The reason for the diminishing interest, according to one export expert, is the fact that Russia enforces double tariffs for Estonia which make Estonia's exports too expensive in shops. (ETA, 10 Feb.)

VENTSPILS, LATVIA -- VENTSPILS SEAPORT IS NOW THE TWELFTH LARGEST IN EUROPE with a cargo turnover of 35.7 million tons last year, including Ventspils Nafta's oil export of 25.2 million tons. From 1992 to 1995 oil transit has increased yearly by 1-2 million tons, but last year jumped by 5.3 million tons, said Ventspils seaport managers at a press conference. Imports have also grown considerably to 323,000 tons. The wharfs' dredging process is going on currently. When completed it will allow the loading of 120,000-ton vessels. Oil can then be exported to any place in the world and will be possible without expensive reloading in the Benilux countries' seaports. Ventspils Mayor Aleksandrs Lembergs said that the future growth of transit will also depend directly on Latvian-Russian relations. (LETA, 9 Feb.)

ESTONIA -- EESTI ENERGIA EXPORTED 12 PERCENT OF ITS OUTPUT IN 1996. The state energy company exported a total power output or 1.1 billion kW hours, more than half of it to Latvia and the remainder to Russia. The export of output grew by a few percent last year but is still significantly less than the export potential of the Estonian power stations. Eesti Energia generated a total of 8,967 billion kW hours of power last year and would be capable of exporting double the 1996 export amount. Such growth could be achieved by selling the power to Latvia. The Russian market is restricted for Eesti Energia because Estonia sells only the power generated from Russian oil shale. The price of power exported by Eesti Energia is not released to the public. Within Estonia, Eesti Energia has recommended that the price of electricity rise by 40 percent this spring. (ETA, 4 Feb.)

ESTONIA -- ESTONIA RANKS 17TH IN EUROPE IN THE USE OF THE Internet, according to a recent RIPE survey. RIPE, the European Internet registry based in Holland, said that Estonia had 7,980 computers or computer networks with permanent Internet connections in December 1996. The actual number of Internet users is several times that number. Estonia is about ten times behind the European leader Finland which has 615 permanent Internet links per 10,000 people compared to 55 in Estonia. Slovenia is ahead of Estonia among former Communist bloc countries while France, Spain and Italy are behind. Latvia ranks 24th in Europe in Internet use with 23 Internet links per 10,000 people and Lithuania 33rd with 5 links per 10,000 people. The average monthly growth rate of Internet connections in Estonia was 16.9 percent. (ETA, 4 Feb.)


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