HELCOM to hold first ever Baltic Cities Summit

Helsinki, 11 May (HELCOM Information Service) – HELCOM, the intergovernmental organisation of all the nine Baltic Sea countries and the EU working for the protection of the Baltic marine environment, will hold the first ever Summit of the Baltic Sea Cities on 18 May 2010 in Moscow. Major cities, ports, shipping companies, water utilities, international financial institutions and NGOs from around the Baltic Sea will discuss and showcase examples of how local actors and stakeholders can contribute to the implementation of the strategic HELCOM Baltic Sea Action Plan to drastically reduce pollution to the sea and restore its good ecological status by 2021. 

The Baltic Sea Cities Summit, which will be hosted by the Governor of Saint-Petersburg, Ms. Valentina Matvienko is part of the HELCOM Ministerial Meeting which will be held on 20 May 2010 also in Moscow.

“The major theme of the Summit is “Sharing experience and exploring funding possibilities to restore the good ecological status of the sea,” says Anne Christine Brusendorff, HELCOM’s Executive Secretary. “The Summit focuses on measures at the

sub-regional level to reduce excessive inputs of nitrogen and phosphorus from municipal and shipping sewage, causing eutrophication of the Baltic Sea – a phenomenon which leads to problems like increased algal blooms, murky waters, oxygen depletion and lifeless sea bottoms. Tackling eutrophication is important for local actors since a better state of the coastal waters creates additional competitive advantages for them, e.g. for tourist attractiveness, improving business conditions and living environment.”

The Baltic Cities Summit provides opportunities for networking, knowledge sharing, learning from experiences in implementing actions at the sub-regional level to improve the state of the marine environment, and a possibility for positive profiling and promotion. Among the major issues to be examined at the Summit are new investments, management practices and tools in advanced wastewater treatment, facilities for wastewaters from shipping and public awareness raising. The event also gives opportunity to explore different funding possibilities.

The programme includes several panels focusing on reduction of pollution loads to the sea from municipalities, experience in municipal sewage treatment, environmental challenges for cleaner Baltic shipping and implementation of municipal infrastructure projects in the Baltic Sea.

The HELCOM Baltic Sea Cities Summit will take place at Hotel Baltschug-Kempinski.

Media advisory:

HELCOM Baltic Cities Summit

http://www.helcom.fi/press_office/news_helcom/en_GB/Media_Advisory_Baltic_Cities_Summit/

Note to Editors:

The Baltic Marine Environment Protection Commission, usually referred to as the Helsinki Commission, or HELCOM, is an intergovernmental organisation of all the nine Baltic Sea countries and the EU which works to protect the marine environment of the Baltic Sea from all sources of pollution. 

HELCOM is the governing body of the "Convention on the Protection of the Marine Environment of the Baltic Sea Area," known as the Helsinki Convention.

For more information, please contact:

Mr. Nikolay Vlasov

Information Secretary

HELCOM

Tel: +358 (0)46 850 9196

Fax: +358 (0)207 412 645

E-mail: nikolay.vlasov@helcom.fi