ORKHUS INFORMATIONAL CENTER OPENING

The ceremony of opening of the Orkhus public-informational center, created at the support of the Baku representation of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) was held on September 23 in the Ministry of Ecology and Natural Resources of Azerbaijan.

Minister of Ecology and Natural Resources of the republic Husseingulu Bagirov, head of OSCE office in Baku Peter Buchard as well as representatives of non-governmental organization of the country took part in the ceremony.

Minister of Ecology and Natural Resources of the country pointed out the importance of open access to informational sources in the field of ecology, underlining that each citizen of Azerbaijan must protect nature of his country, using rationally its values. The Minister expressed gratitude to OSCE for aid in opening of Orkhus informational center.

“ We must protect nature of Azerbaijan. Each citizen is obligated to protect unique flora and fauna, as well as soil and water resources. When constructing an objects, purification installation should be installed first”, Bagirov said.

It is time to stop living in words according to the principle “everything for man’s welfare” and start active protection of environment of Azerbaijan. The Minister pointed out that an Internet page is to open for expansion of the center’s activities.

The head of OSCE office, in his turn, thanked the government of the country and personally, the Minister for support in implementation of a two-year project of new informational center and underlined that Azerbaijan, as a member-country of the Orkhus Convention, took commitment on organization of this center.

He reminded that the convention adopted in a Danish town of Orkhus in 1998 and came into effect in October 2001 is a concrete manifestation of the process Environment for Europe. Azerbaijan signed the convention in 1999 and 10 out of 24 countries signed it, are states of the region.

The Orkhus Convention envisages a wide access of public to information related to environment. The convention reflects the spirit of cooperation between the governmental bodies and public in the field of ecology. This informational center is the first step due to which OSCE will be realizing a number of projects, Buchard said.

At the same time, the head of OSCE representation underlined complex works on two projects: organization of training for young journalists in the field of ecology and ecological education of young generation.

In conclusion, they marked that the Baku office of OSCE has rendered financial aid in equipment of the informational center for 25 thousand US dollars. The center is placed in the ground floor of the Ministry of Ecology and Natural Resources.