LITHUANIA STRESSES THAT THE INTERNATIONAL ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT ASSESSMENT PROCESS OF THE BELARUSIAN NUCLEAR POWER PLANT IS NOT COMPLETE
Today, Vice-Minister of Foreign Affairs Evaldas Ignatavičius gave a note of protest to the Belarusian Ambassador to Lithuania Vladimir Drazhin regarding the claims of Belarusian officials that Lithuania did not object to the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) report in accordance with the 1991 United Nations Espoo Convention on Environmental Impact Assessment in a Transboundary Context in regard to the planned construction of the Belarusian Nuclear Power Plant (NPP).
When presenting the protest note, the Vice-Minister emphasized that such statements did not comply with reality or with the spirit of good-neighbourly relations, as well as they were misleading the international community.
The note stresses that “Lithuania repeatedly reasserts that the international Environmental Impact Assessment process of the planned construction of the Belarusian Nuclear Power Plant is not complete, as Belarus has not carried out the Environmental Impact Assessment in compliance with the generally accepted international legal norms, has not organized public hearings in Lithuania and bilateral consultations of Lithuania and Belarus in accordance with the provisions of the Espoo Convention.”
Lithuania is mostly concerned about the criteria for choosing the plant’s construction site.
During the conversation, Vice-Minister E.Ignatavičius and V.Drazhin agreed that Belarus would prepare answers to Lithuania’s questions about the nuclear power plant project in compliance with the provisions of the Espoo Convention.
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