New international fund for protection of Baltic Sea

摘要

Sweden, which will take over the Presidency of the European Union from 1 July to 31 December 2009, has placed the protection of the Baltic Sea among its priorities. It has just taken a step towards realising this objective by deciding, on 19 May, during a bilateral meeting with Finland, to create, together with this country, a new international fund for the improvement of the Baltic Sea environment. The Finnish Minister of the Environment, Paula Lehtomaeki, believes that the fund should be operational "as quickly as possible". But the fund is also open to all of the Baltic Sea neighbouring countries. "We will take action in order for other countries to join us," underlined the Swedish Minister for the Environment, Andreas Carlgren.