Press Release no 31 Tallinn to Host Baltic Sea Countries Environmental Cooperation Session

\"We ask ourselves the question: How far may the defence policy intervene into environmental policy i.e where lies the borderline when the defence related activities interfere with the living nature. And on the other hand we ask : how far may the environmental policy interfere with the defence of the country, thus the citizens of this country would be safe and protected,\" Jõerüüt said in his opening speech.
The goal of the conference is to create a framework of coordinated environment protection cooperation in the Baltic Sea region and to promote further work in the area. It will also discuss the progress made so far and the plans for the future.
The project will enable to ensure the exchange of information and improve the efficiency of cooperation as much as the participating nations encounter similar problems. Extensive cooperation and exchange of information will enable to take advantage of the neighbours\' experience and avoid mistakes.
The Baltic Sea countries\' environmental cooperation grew out of an earlier US-Swedish-Baltic cooperation project. The present participants include the defence sectors\' environment experts from Finland, Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia, Germany, Romania, Georgia and the USA, as well as the Estonian Environment Ministry.
Although this is only the third meeting, a form of cooperation has been already developed and a strategy of military environmental protection cooperation has been drafted. The Riga conference in 2002 discussed the opportunities for cooperation and the drafting of a strategy for coordinating it in the Baltic Sea area. The Lithuanian conference in 2003 reviewed the national military environment projects and drafted the framework for further activities.