The Messenger, Georgia
July 7 2005
Environmental model for regional cooperation
Georgian environment minister suggests Regional Environmental Center
can be a model of how to work together to develop the South Caucasus
By Anna Arzanova
In a pioneering pan-regional project, the ministries of environment
of the three South Caucasus countries are working together to resolve
ecological problems across the region.
Speaking on Tuesday after a meeting of the Regional Environmental
Center, set up by the three countries in 1999, Georgian Minister of
Environment and Natural Resources Giorgi Papuashvili commented that
the REC is unique “because Armenia and Azerbaijan also took part in
this meeting despite the political problems that these two countries
have.”
He said that Georgia, Armenia and Azerbaijan are linked with each
other by the problem of protecting the environment, and that it is
very important to work on this problem together.
“This meeting can be a good example for political negotiations for
the development of the South Caucasus region, because within the
framework of this organization the South Caucasus is presented as a
united region before the international community,” Papuasahvili
stated, adding that he hoped this would one day be true in terms of
economics as well.
Tuesday’s meeting of the REC brought together the ministers of
environment of all three South Caucasus countries, as well as
representatives of the European Commission, which is the main donor
of the center – Charge d’Affaires of the EC Delegation to Georgia and
Armenia Jacques Vantomme and EC Brussels representative Soledad
Blanco
Minister Papuashvili said afterwards that a declaration had been
adopted in which the sides confirmed their readiness to actively
participate and strengthen their work within the organization.
He notes that the headquarters of this organization will remain in
Tbilisi and that chairmanship of the center will rotate between the
environment ministers of Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia.
Soledad Blanco stated that the South Caucasus region has a wonderful
environment and incredible diversity, but warned that the region is
currently facing major environmental challenges.
“These challenges – whether air pollution or water contamination or
loss of diversity – are regional problems and not specifically the
problems of Georgia, Armenia or Azerbaijan,” she stated, adding that
regional problems require regional solutions.
She said that the REC is aimed precisely at finding regional
solutions to ecological challenges faced by the South Caucasus as a
whole.
Although set up in 1999, however, “we have come to the conclusion
that some adaptations are needed to make sure that this center really
does what the founders want it to do.” Tuesday’s meeting was intended
to discuss these changes.
“We exchanged views on new ideas and also discussed issues such as
how to make the country offices fully operational and how to make the
center more representative of the interests of all three countries,”
she stated.
She stated that a lot had been achieved, and that a number of
principles had been agreed upon that would be followed by more
technical work.
Blanco also noted that the REC is intended to facilitate the
implementation of the European Neighborhood Policy (ENP), which
includes Georgia, Armenia and Azerbaijan.
“These three South Caucasus countries are close neighbors of the
European Union and it is logical that there would be good relations
among neighbors and that we try to establish a closer relationship –
this is what the ENP is trying to do,” she stated.
Representative of the Armenian embassy in Tbilisi Gagik Airapetian
and representative of the Azeri ministry of ecology of Azerbaijan
Farik Farzaliev also expressed satisfaction with the results of the
meeting, which was also attended by the environment ministers of
Armenia and Azerbaijan Vardan Aivazyan and Husein Bagirov.