EU, Russia establish dialogue on environment

The European Union and Russia signed a set of guidelines establishing a dialogue between the two sides on environmental matters in the Finnish capital of Helsinki on Tuesday.

The dialogue will focus on: environmental policies, climate change, water and marine issues, bio-diversity and nature protection, environmental impact assessment, forestry law enforcement, cleaner production and pollution prevention.

The document was signed by EU Environment Commissioner Stavros Dimas and Russian Minister of Natural Resources Yury Trutnyev during the first meeting of the EU-Russia Permanent Partnership Council.

The purpose of the meeting was to discuss environmental protection and nature conservation cooperation between the EU and Russia.

"The document signed on Tuesday establishes a firm basis for future dialogue between the EU and Russia on environmental issues, " said Enestam, adding that the two sides now had "the structures in place to enable intensive and systematic collaboration."

"In the field of climate change mitigation, for instance, the EU and Russia can now conduct a genuine dialogue. This is a vital step forward, especially considering that the forthcoming November climate summit in Nairobi will be considering emission limits for the post-Kyoto period," said Enestam.

Source: Xinhua