OSCE Office opens public environmental information centre in Armenia's remote Syunik district

YEREVAN, 12 December 2005 - The OSCE Office in Yerevan opened an Aarhus public information Centre in the capital of the remote Syunik province, Kapan.

"The OSCE attaches high importance to the promotion of the Aarhus Convention, which calls for public access to environmental information, justice and decision-making as an indispensable tool for democracy-building," said Ambassador Vladimir Pryakhin, Head of the OSCE Office.

This was the first such Centre to be opened outside of Yerevan, and marked the implementation of the Syunik Marz socio-economic development study, commissioned by the OSCE Office in 2004.

Suren Khachatryan, the Governor of Syunik, welcomed the establishment of the environmental information centre in the province and said: "The district's administration supports the Aarhus Centre because it is a unique example of close co-operation with the public in addressing environmental problems at the local level".

Local authorities, representatives of the Yerevan Aarhus Centre, the Nature Protection Ministry, as well as of the OSCE Office discussed future activities in the environmental field and the forthcoming elections for the board of experts of the Centre.

To raise public awareness on environment protection, the OSCE Office also supported and participated in the planting of 3000 seedlings in Syunik.