The Romanian government has approved the signing of an agreement with the Ukrainian government for the implementation of the Convention on Environmental Impact Assessment in a Transboundary Context.
According to the government, a memorandum for the approval was put forth by the Ministry of the Environment, Water and Forestry.
The draft agreement, the signing of which was approved, has detailed provisions that will facilitate the implementation of future transboundary assessment procedures, Agerpres informs.
"The convention is a particularly important international legal instrument that ensures the participation of the potentially affected countries in procedures for assessing the environmental impact of projects carried out in other countries. The provisions of this convention were mentioned by Romania regarding the implementation by Ukraine of a project for the deep navigation channel on the Bastroe and Chilia branches of the Danube (the Bastroe project). At the recommendation of the Meeting of the Parties, Romania and Ukraine formally started a negotiation process in 2016 with a view to concluding an agreement detailing the provisions of the Espoo Convention in bilateral relations. (...) The final text was agreed upon in September 2022 year and is the result of sustained efforts by experts from the Ministry of the Environment, Water and Forestry and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs."
The Convention on Environmental Impact Assessment in a Transboundary Context (informally called the Espoo Convention) is a United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE) convention signed in Espoo, Finland, in 1991 that entered into force in 1997. Romania ratified it on March 29, 2001.