Brussels, 23/06/2004 (Agence Europe) - The Council of Baltic Sea States, meeting on Monday in Estonia, adopted a declaration whereby it supports the ban on transport of heavy fuel by single hull oil tankers, decided in December 2003 by the International Maritime Organisation (IMO). In its conclusions, the Council, which is composed of eleven countries including eight EU Member States (Denmark, Sweden, Finland, Germany, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, Poland, Norway, Iceland and Russia) considers that ensuring maritime security is the joint responsibility of all Baltic States. It announces that it supports the ban on transport of heavy fuel by single hull tankers and towards all the ports of the Baltic Sea by 5 April 2005 at the latest, in agreement with IMO regulations. In December 2003, the IMO had in fact decided to introduce at international level measures against single hull tankers similar to those which took effect at European level in October 2003 (EUROPE of 6 December 2003 and 22 October 2003).
The declaration adopted by the Council of Baltic Sea States is all the more important as Russia has to date shown itself to be reticent about rapid implementation of these measures. Speaking at a press conference after the meeting, Russian Prime Minister Mikhaïl Fradkov said that his country supports the ban. "It is not a problem for us", he said (as reported by AFP).
In its declaration, the Council of the Baltic Sea States also insists on the need to take more effective measures to fight against illegal dumping of waste and to ensure information is exchanged between States.