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The
Baltic
Sea Action Summit that was held in Helsinki on Wednesday, 10 February
was a success in the opinion of the arrangers. The summit attracted a
large and high-level group of participants to Finlandia Hall to tell
about their commitments to protect the Baltic Sea. All in all around
500 persons were on hand for the event.
The
summit was hosted by
President of the Republic Tarja Halonen, Prime Minister Matti Vanhanen
and Mr Ilkka Herlin, the Chairman of the Baltic Sea Action Group, who
together convened the summit. The Ministry for Foreign Affairs took
charge of preparations and arrangements.
The
summit was attended
by heads of state and government and ministers from eleven countries
around the Baltic Sea. Participants included King Carl XVI Gustaf and
Minister of the Environment Andreas Carlgren of Sweden, President
Valdis Zatlers of Latvia, President Dalia Grybauskaité of Lithuania,
Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg of Denmark, Prime Minister Lars Lokke
Rasmussen of Denmark, Prime Minister Andrus Ansip of Estonia, Prime
Minister Vladimir Putin of Russia, Deputy Prime Minister Waldemar
Pawlak of Poland, Federal Minister of Food, Agriculture and Consumer
Protection Ilse Aigner of Germany, Minister of Natural Resources and
Environmental Protection Vitali Kulik of Belarus and EU Regional Policy
Commissioner Johannes Hahn.
Numerous
NGOs and businesses also
took part in the summit and made commitments to protect the Baltic Sea.
This was the first time such a summit focusing on concrete commitments
and bringing together the private and public sectors has been arranged
in Finland.
About
140 commitments were made at the summit, which
is a considerable number. The purpose of all the commitments is to
promote the protection of the Baltic Sea and to improve its ecological
condition. The commitments are concrete and the Baltic Sea Action Group
will monitor their implementation.
"I
am very glad that the
Baltic Sea countries were represented at such a high level. The
participation of NGOs and businesses on such a broad front also made
this an entirely new type of summit. All actors are needed in this
cooperation. I thank the participants for all the commitments that were
made to protect the Baltic environment. We don't expect miracles but we
do expect hard work, of which this summit was a demonstration," said
President of the Republic Tarja Halonen.
"This
was an important
step forward in protecting the Baltic Sea. Our common sea needs action
and not just talk. Hopefully as many people as possible will be
encouraged by this summit's example and make a commitment to protect
the Baltic Sea in their own activities. In the future paying attention
to environmental values will also be a competition edge for
businesses," noted Prime Minister Matti Vanhanen.
"Now
promises
have been made and measures must be taken to fulfil them. We will go on
working and monitor the situation constantly, since protecting the
Baltic Sea is a continuing process," emphasized Mr Ilkka Herlin, the
Chairman of the Baltic Sea Action Group.
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