OSCE Centre supports Kazakhstan's efforts to join pollution control protocol

ALMATY, 26 August 2005 - Kazakhstan's technical and legislative capacities to accede to the Kyiv Protocol on pollutant release and transfer registers will be assessed at a meeting of government officials, national and international experts and civil society representatives on 3 and 4 September.

Participants aim to work out a set of recommendations to assist Kazakhstan in ratifying the Protocol and becoming the first country to join this international instrument, following its adoption by 36 European countries in May 2003.

Moreover, the meeting will be the first time that the national registers of pollutant release and transers are discussed by experts and the responsible officials of Kazakhstan.

"This meeting's discussion should help to ensure further actions towards more effective control and reduction of environmental pollution, as well as stimulate responsible behaviour on the part of industry", said Ambassador Ivar Vikki, Head of the OSCE Centre in Almaty.

Experts and interested parties from other Central Asian countries will also participate in the meeting to consider the regional scope of the issues being discussed.

The Kyiv Protocol is one of the legally binding instruments of the Aarhus Convention, technically known as the UNECE Convention on Access to Information, Public Participation in Decision-making and Access to Justice in Environmental Matters, adopted on 25 June 1998.. It is aimed at raising public awareness of environmental issues, regulating information on pollution and exerting significant downward pressure on levels of pollution.

The meeting is part of a comprehensive assistance programme of the Centre in Almaty, being implemented with the financial support of the United States Permanent Mission to the OSCE.

Media representatives are invited to attend the two-day meeting on 3 and 4 September at the Okzhetpes sanatorium, near Borovoe Lake.