GULF OF FINLAND -- A PRESIDENTIAL DECREE PROVIDING A GUARANTEE OF GOVERNMENT FUNDING FOR THE ESTABLISHMENT OF THE THREE NEW TRANSIT TERMINALS to be built on the Russian shore of the Gulf of Finland was signed by Boris Yeltsin during a visit to St. Petersburg. Oil terminals will be constructed at two of the sites, and a coal transfer terminal will be constructed at the third. The three sites are Primorsk, Batareinaia Bay, and Ust'-Luga. It is argued that the opening of the ports will permit Russia to export oil products and coal without paying for expensive transit costs in the Baltic states. Critics of the projects counter that construction and environmental costs will outweigh any long-term financial benefits, and they accuse supporters of falling victim to political arguments that Russia must have as many independent ports on the Gulf of Finland as possible. (SPb Vedomosti, 7 June).
ESTONIA-EUROPEAN UNION -- THE ESTONIAN PARLIAMENT ADOPTED AN ENERGY LAW that regulates Estonia's energy market and should facilitate its unification with European Union (EU) norms. One of the main aims of the law is to regulate trading with electricity, natural gas, and heating energy under free competition. The law does not concern issues connected to nuclear energy. The law regulates a system of licensing the companies that produce, process, store, transport, distribute and sell energy. The law also prescribes the creation of an electric energy management center, the orders of which are obligatory to all energy companies of the electricity system. The law is designed to regulate relations between consumers and energy companies. The law was adopted on June 11 and will come into force on January 1, 1998. (ETA, 11 June)
VILNIUS-MINSK -- LITHUANIA AND BELARUS HELD A SYMBOLICAL CEREMONY TO MARK THE BEGINNING OF DEMARCATION OF THE LITHUANIAN- BELARUSSIAN BORDER. The event included the ambassadors of Russia, Poland, Latvia, and Belarus, as well as interior ministers and border officials of Lithuania and Belarus. State symbols were built next to two newly erected posts. On June 11, a joint demarcation commission of Lithuanian and Belarussian officials adjusted 131 marking sites in a 70-kilometer border section. The border demarcation work is to be finished by the end of 1998. Local residents said that they have often crossed the border accidentally in recent years, as the border was not marked. The area has also served as a transit route for stolen cars and created a favorable situation for organized crime and drug smuggling. (ELTA, 12 June)
BELARUS-LITHUANIA-POLAND-RUSSIA -- THE FOUR NATIONS HAVE SET UP A UNION OF BORDERING REGIONS BY THE NAME OF THE EUROREGION NEMUNAS. The decision was taken at a recent meeting in the Polish city of Suvalkai. The government members of the Euroregion Nemunas believe that such union will give a new quality to transboundary interaction among neighboring nations, and improve conditions for the development of social and economic links. The Union will not contradict internal laws of any these countries or any existing forms of intergovernmental cooperation. Participants will soon elect a council, presidium, and secretariat of the union to coordinate its activities. (ELTA, 5 June)
RIGA-VILNIUS -- LATVIA AND LITHUANIA ARE SEEKING A NEW SOLUTION TO THEIR PRESENT AIR SPACE DISPUTE. With the help of the International Civil Aviation Organization, Latvia and Lithuania in Paris tried to resolve their current dispute over the air space above the Baltic Sea eastern coast. The meeting in the ICAO headquarters was attended by representatives of the Baltic states, Poland, Russia, Finland and Sweden. The Lithuanian side admitted that in the case that Latvia and Lithuania did not manage to reach a decision, politicians of both countries would inevitably play a larger role in the dispute. (LETA, 4 June)
KLAIPEDA, LITHUANIA-STOCKHOLM -- THE FERRY PALANGA BEGAN REGULAR ROUTES FROM KLAIPEDA TO STOCKHOLM. Lithuanian ferry-liner left Klaipeda seaport on June 10 for its first route to Stockholm. The Palanga will conduct regular routes from Klaipeda to Swedish capital twice a week. The ferry will reach Stockholm within 17 hours and is able to carry 120 passengers and more than 50 cars. The Palanga ferry is to carry regular trips to Germany once a week. The Lithuanian Klaipeda-- Stockholm route will face competition from the Polish shipping company Pol Fery, which is to start Gdansk--Stockholm route soon. Latvia already started a similar enterprise of bringing ferry passengers and cargo from Latvia to the Swedish capital earlier this year. (ELTA, 10 June)
ESTONIA-GERMANY-SWEDEN -- GERMAN SHIPYARD HAS DENIED RESPONSIBILITY FOR THE ESTONIA CATASTROPHE. The German shipyard Meyer Werft has rejected any responsibility for the 1994 Baltic Sea sinking of the Estonia car-ferry in a report on the tragedy. Meyer Werft, which built the Estonia in 1980, argues that the ship sank as a result of bad maintenance and not faulty construction, as an international inquiry commission suggested in a preliminary report in April 1995, said the Swedish daily Dagens Nyheter Wednesday. The Estonia sank off Finland's southwest coast on September 2, 1994 while crossing between Tallinn and Stockholm. 852 people died during the catastrophe. Meyer Werft's tests suggest that Estonia's locks on the ship's bow doors were changed after she was built in 1980, otherwise the locks would have held if they had been in the condition they were in when they left the shipyard. (ETA, 11 June)
ST. PETERSBURG-VILNIUS -- REGULAR AIRLINE PASSENGER FLIGHTS AFTER AN INTERRUPTION OF FIVE YEARS will begin later this month between the two cities. The firm Aeroprit in cooperation with Lithuanian Airlines is beginning the service. Flights will be scheduled twice a week. (SPb Vedomosti, 10 June)
LAKES ZALIEJI EZERAI, LITHUANIA -- ABOUT 50 KILOGRAMS OF URANIUM STOLEN IN 1992 FROM IGNALINA NUCLEAR PLANT have been found near Vilnius at the Zalieji Lakes area. One day before, on June 10, about 20 more kilos of radioactive uranium, derived from a nuclear fuel rod assembly were detected in the Lithuanian town Visaginas - which is a residence of the administration and employees of the Ignalina plant. According to Lietuvos Rytas daily the uranium tubes in the Zalieji Lakes area were buried at a depth of a half a meter. The radiometer fixed radiation of 0.15 milliroentgens per hour. The discovery came from information given by one suspect and checked by organized crime officials from the security department, prosecutor general's office, and interior ministry. The team is still searching for uranium which is believed to have been hid in Vilnius. (ELTA, 12 June)
ST. PETERSBURG -- SCIENTISTS OF THE BOTANICAL INSTITUTE HAVE RETRACTED A CRITICAL STATEMENT, earlier published in the city newspaper Chas Pik on 5 June, accusing city and oblast officials for allowing cutting of timber in Leningrad Oblast. The new statement was read at a press conference chaired by Yuri Fokin, head of the Committee on Natural Resource Use. The scientists wrote in their statement that they were "misled" by leaders of green organizations and send their apologies to Leningrad Oblast officials. An official interbranch commission is also studying the timber cutting situation in Leningrad Oblast and has promised a final report within one month. (Vesti, 14 June)
LITHUANIA -- THE GLOBAL ENVIRONMENT FUND HAS CONFIRMED FUNDING FOR A NEW LITHUANIAN PROJECT. The Global Environment Fund confirmed a project "On assistance to Lithuania in preparation of the first national report on implementation of obligations to the UN convention on climatic changes." The local environmental ministry is to receive $154,500 through the Lithuania-based mission of UN Development Program (UNDP). During the past two years a local working team under guidance of environmental ministry, the mission of UNDP, and UN training and scientific research institute, drew up a national project for realization of convention. The project is designed to enhance better consideration of climatic changes by specialists and lawmakers adopting economic decisions and officials formulating policy. (ELTA, 10 June)
BEKKER PORT, ESTONIA -- THE BEKKER PORT HAS FOUND A NEW INVESTOR in the Russian company, Orenburgneft, which plans to build an oil terminal at the port in Tallinn. Orenburgneft has already made a prepayment to the project and is waiting for a planning permit. The plan is being heavily opposed by opposition politicians in the City Council of Tallinn. The latter are trying to block granting of a planning permission for the terminal, saying that oil shipments should not be transported through central Tallinn for safety reasons. Estonia's Minister of Economy Jaak Leimann says that he personally favors the oil project at Bekker Port. "It is a traditional industrial area where one more train would not make a big difference. Business and transit trade deserve to be supported," he added. (Aripaev, 9 June)
LAKE LADOGA, RUSSIA -- TWO LARGE FUEL SPILLS WERE DISCOVERED ON THE SURFACE OF LAKE LADOGA, the largest lake in Europe. A helicopter based in St. Petersburg examined the spills from the air, and measured the size of the spills to be nine and thirty square kilometers. On June 7 over the course of two hours, a desiccating material was poured on the spills from the helicopter. The source of the spills are still being investigated, but it is assumed that the spills came from a ship passing through the area. (Chas Pik, 10 June)
IGNALINA NUCLEAR PLANT, LITHUANIA -- A WORKING GROUP OF THE INTERNATIONAL ATOMIC ENERGY AGENCY (IAEA) BEGAN SAFETY INVESTIGATIONS at the Ignalina Nuclear Plant on June 2. The team carried out a thorough inspection of the Ignalina plant in September 1995 and presented recommendations how to improve the safety and administration of the plant. This time, four IAEA experts are to check, how Lithuania follows the above-mentioned recommendations. Lithuanian nuclear energy safety inspection head Saulius Kutas, Lithuanian economy ministry nuclear energy department director Vytautas Bieliauskas and a group of Ignalina plant experts, headed by its director general Viktoras Sevaldinas, are also to take part in the inspection work. (ELTA, 2 June)
ESTONIA -- ESTONIA'S FORESTS WILL NO LONGER SERVE AS COLLATERAL FOR THE ESTONIAN NATIONAL CURRENCY. The Riigikogu revoked a 1992 bill which included Estonia's forests at an estimated cost of 150 million U.S. dollars to the foreign currency reserves of the central bank. According to Estonian laws, the national currency in circulation in Estonia has to be covered by foreign currency reserves in equal measures. The decision to use forests as collateral was made in 1992 when Estonia was about to introduce its national currency and was not certain whether it would be returned its gold reserves kept in foreign banks since 1940. The forest was never used as an actual collateral in any specific transactions. (ETA, 2 June)
VILNIUS -- A MUCH-DISPUTED LAW ON THE RESTORATION OF PROPERTY RIGHTS HAS BEEN ADOPTED. The Lithuanian Seimas passed a law on June 5 on the restoration of property rights, giving 70 votes for, 28 against, and 14 abstained. The newly adopted document regulates procedure and terms for restoration of property rights to land, houses, and apartments which were nationalized by Soviet authorities. Leftist faction argue that justice for one group of people should not come at the expense of other people. "The sanctioned law does not meet this condition, therefore, the Social Democrats voted against it," the faction said in a statement. The new law specifies neither the timeframe nor resources needed to ensure realization of house owners rights to their property. (ELTA, 5 June)
MUSTVEE, ESTONIA -- THE OPENING CEREMONY OF THE ESTONIAN-RUSSIAN ART EXHIBITION of the international childrens' contest "World of Water in the Eyes of Children" took place on June 7 in the town of Mustvee on the Estonian shore of Lake Peipus. Five hundred children of ages between 4 years to 18 years from Estonia, Russia, Latvia, and Finland participated in the "World of Water" contest this year. The goal of the contest is to promote the cooperation of Estonia, Russia and other countries to support environmental protection and the sustainable development of the Lake Peipus region. The contest was organized and supported by the Mustvee town government, NGO "Lake Peipsi Project", Pskov Ecological and Biological Center, Pskov Regional Education Board, and the Estonian-Russian-Swedish Project on the Environmental Monitoring of Lake Peipus. (Lake Peipsi Project, 10 June)
VYBORG, RUSSIA -- THE FIFTH SESSION OF THE FINNISH-RUSSIAN INTERGOVERNMENTAL GROUP FOR THE DEVELOPMENT OF COOPERATION OF BORDER REGIONS opened on June 10 for a two-day working session. About one hundred government officials, scholars, and businessmen took part in the session. Questions of the realization and finance of mutual projects and of Finnish technical help were discussed. Plans were made for the realization for border cooperation through the year 2000. (Nevskoe Vremiia, 11 June)
RAPLA COUNTY, ESTONIA -- A DEVELOPMENT CONFERENCE ON INCOME DIFFERENCES held in Rapla county focused its attention to the large differences between the incomes of the residents of various regions. The Chairman of the Local Governments Union Juri Voigemast explained that the incomes of the Tallinn residents are up to 12 times higher than those of the residents of remote rural areas. While the taxed income per capita of the Tallinn residents in 1996 was 1,805 kroons per month, it was only 157 kroons in the areas near Lake Peipsi and on the island of Piirissaar. Conference participants pointed out that many factors obstruct regional development, primarily in the realm of policies determined in Tallinn - instable economic policy, absence of tax deductions on investments in regions, delays with such reforms. (Sonumileht, 12 June)
LITHUANIA -- PARTICIPANTS IN A PHARE SEMINAR ON LITHUANIAN TOURISM DEVELOPMENT PROBLEMS held at Lithuanian exhibition center Litexpo held on June 2 concluded that tourism should become one of the most important exports of Lithuanian services. According to the PHARE-Lithuanian tourism development program manager Philip Heneghan, separate Lithuanian regions and cities have already started to devote more attention to the tourism development and providing better services and more complete tourism information. However, Lithuania should rely more on village tourism providing more investments to this sphere, Heneghan said. Last year the amount of foreign tourists visiting Lithuania totalled 3.5 million. The number of tourists arriving to Lithuania from CIS countries in 1996 rose by 47 percent. (ELTA, 2 June)
ST. PETERSBURG -- THE CONFERENCE "SITUATION, PROBLEMS, AND PERSPECTIVES OF THE FOREST INDUSTRY" addressed recently the problems of the forest industry in Leningrad Oblast. One of the recommendations of the conference was that forest sections be leased over long periods to single timber firms. An inter- departmental commission is now investigating possible timber cutting violations in recent months and will soon prepare a final report on the state of the forest in the region. (Vechernii Peterburg, 11 June)
ST. PETERSBURG -- THE CHILDREN'S REGIONAL ART CONTEST "NATURE IS YOUR HOME - PRESERVE IT" awarded prizes to 68 children from the 160 schools which participated in the contest. The winners' work will be published in the Russian-wide children's magazine "Koster". The governor of St. Petersburg, Vladimir Iakovlev, emphasized the importance of such contests for the city's public environmental awareness. (Nevskoe Vremiia, 3 June)
ORU, ESTONIA -- THE FIRM OU FREESTURVAS WILL START PEAT PRODUCTION in Oru as soon as it received a license from the Estonian Ministry of the Environment. OU Freesturvas, which recently bought the bankrupt Oru Peat Factory, intends to produce peat blocks, and already has concluded sales contracts of some 30,000 tons of processed peat, the head of OU Freesturvas Ronald Pullerits said. The new owners do not plan to produce peat briquettes at the plant, despite the fact that briquettes were the main product of Oru for decades. The specialists of Estonia's scrap metal monopoly EMEX have estimated that the plant has about about 5,000 tons of scrap metal from old equipment and whose value may reach 3-4 million kroons. (Aripaev, 11 June)
ST. PETERSBURG -- NEW DRINKING WATER QUALITY STANDARDS WILL BEGIN TO BE ENFORCED July 1 of this year in order to comply with the Russian-wide order made in October 1996 to raise drinking water standards in all Russian cities. The new standards are considerably more strict than previous standards, and conform to accepted international standards. (Chas Pik, 14 June)
ESTONIA-FINLAND-LATVIA-LITHUANIA-RUSSIA -- A UN GLOBAL HUMAN DEVELOPMENT REPORT, published on June 5, places Finland in the 8th position and Russia in 67th position in terms of human development. The report is based on data collected in 1994 by the UNDP. Lithuania occupies the 76th place and Latvia the 92th place on the list. The list of states, compiled on the basis of a human development index, tops with Canada, France, Norway and the US. Estonia was first included in the global human development report in 1994 occupying then the 29th place, in the 1995 report (based on 1992 data) Estonia fell to the 43th position, and in 1996 (1993 data) to the 68th position. Latvia was ranked 92nd, 37 places lower than in 1996, in the report. Such a low ranking can be explained today by the outdated nature of 1994 data, explained a UNDP representative in Latvia. (ETA, 12 June, and LETA, 13 June)
EESTI ENERGIA -- EESTI ENERGIA, THE LARGEST POWER COMPANY OF ESTONIA, reported a growth in profits achieved mainly from exports of energy to Russia and Latvia as well as from the success in collecting bad debts from customers. The average consumption went up 6 percent last year, but that of large consumers grew just 0.5 percent versus 11.7 percent of small consumers. In the four months of this year, the consumption of large companies has fallen 8.3 percent but has stabilised now. The growth for small consumers reached 18 percent. (Aripaev, 8 June)
ESTONIA -- ONE-THIRD OF ESTONIANS HAVE USED A COMPUTER, according to a survey by Baltic Media Facts. Within the age group from 15 to 19, 75 percent have worked with a computer. Every day some 116,000 Estonians or 10.5 percent of the country's population, uses a computer, spending an average of three hours in front of the screens. Computers are mainly used at work in Estonia, followed by the school and home. Within the past month, 69,000 Estonians have used them Internet, 89 percent of them aged 15-39. Five percent of Estonians have received or sent e-mail. (ETA, 10 June)