Finland contributes to the Northern Dimension’s Environmental Partnership Fund

Finland is contributing 10 million euros to the Northern Dimension’s Environmental Partnership Fund. In a meeting today, the Ministerial Committee for Neighbouring Areas supported Finland’s participation in this project. The matter will be discussed by the government on July 4.

The fund, which is administered by the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, co-ordinates the resources of the EU, international financial institutions and individual donor countries in financing environmental and nuclear waste investments, especially in the North-western part of Russia. The European Commission, the Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, Denmark and Russia have preliminarily agreed to be partners for the fund in addition to Finland. Essential for the operation of the fund is that Russia joins in with a capital share and takes part in its administration.

The working group for the Environmental Partnership Fund includes representatives of the European Commission, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), the Nordic Investment Bank (NIB), the European Investment Bank (EIB) and the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD). The chairman of the management team is NIB President and CEO Jon Sigurdsson.

The initiative was launched by EBRD President Jean Lemierre during his visit to Finland in February 2001. As a result of discussions between Prime Minister Paavo Lipponen and Mr Lemierre, the issue proceeded during the Swedish EU presidency so that a Task Force’s final report was accepted in June 2001 at the Gothenburg European Council. In Russia, twelve environmental projects have been selected as investment targets.

Further information: Markku Kauppinen, Head of Unit, Ministry for Foreign Affairs, tel. (09) 1605 5625, or Antti Loikas, Project Expert, tel. (09) 1605 6019.