ACCESSION NUMBER:00000
FILE ID:95063019.WWE
DATE:06/30/95
TITLE:JOINT STATEMENT ON U.S.-RUSSIAN SPECIAL ENVIRONMENTAL INITIATIVE
TEXT:
(Text: White House release) (640)
(The following joint statement was released June 30 in Moscow by the
traveling White House, Office of the Vice President. Vice President
Gore is in Moscow to attend the fifth meeting of the U.S.-Russian
Joint Commission on Economic and Technical Cooperation, also known as
the Gore-Chernomyrdin Commission.)
U.S.-Russian Joint Commission on Economic and Technological
Cooperation
JOINT STATEMENT ON U.S.-RUSSIAN SPECIAL ENVIRONMENTAL INITIATIVE
In accordance with understandings reached at the Fourth session of the
U.S.-Russian Commission on Economic and Technological Cooperation, a
Joint U.S.-Russian Ecological/Environmental Seminar was held in
Washington, D.C. May 15-19, 1995. The Seminar examined potential
environmental applications of products from national security
acquisition systems as a supplement to civil systems. The U.S. side
was led by the Under Secretary of Commerce for Oceans and Atmosphere.
The Russian delegation was led by the Minister of Environmental
Protection and Natural Resources. Environmental scientists and
government officials, including representatives of defense and
intelligence organizations, from the two countries took part in the
Seminar.
The Vice President of the United States of America and the Chairman of
the Government of the Russian Federation stated that they attach
special significance to this new and potentially fruitful area of
cooperation, which could bring tangible benefits to their two
countries, as well as to other countries around the world. The
Co-Chairmen of the Commission on Economic and Technological
Cooperation noted that Russia and the United States, with the worldþs
largest and third largest land masses, have a special obligation to
further and deepen mankind's understanding of environmental changes
and the impact of human activities on the planet.
After receiving a report on the results of the Seminar, the Vice
President of the United States and the Chairman of the Russian
Government agreed that further examination of the potential and
modalities for joint cooperation in this area is warranted.
To that end, the Co-Chairmen of the Commission on Economic and
Technological Cooperation direct establishment of an Environmental
Working Group (EWG), headed by Under Secretary of Commerce Baker and
Minister of Environmental Protection and Natural Resources
Danilov-Danilyan and consisting of representatives from each country's
environmental, energy, defense, and intelligence agencies, and
scientific community. The purpose of the Environmental Working Group
is to examine approaches of the two countries to the uses for
environmental purposes of space-based, air-borne, oceanographic, and
in situ products derived from national security data acquisition
systems, as well as procedures for coordinated environmental
assessments utilizing such products.
The Environmental Working Group will develop a set of projects to
determine the practicality of using products derived from each side's
national security data acquisition systems, within existing
cooperative infrastructures and environmental missions and without
jeopardizing the national security interests of either side. In
conducting its activities, the EWG will interact closely with other
committees of the Joint Commission on Economic and Technological
Cooperation.
A subgroup will also be created under the Environmental Working Group,
cochaired by senior U.S. and Russian intelligence/defense
representatives. The subgroup will examine procedures for the
production of unclassified products in support of projects recommended
by the EWG, to consider legal/regulatory issues related to exchanging
such products, to consider possibilities for making such products
available, and to examine implementation issues, including the
feasibility of obtaining the necessary products and their utilization
for conducting jointly coordinated environmental assessments.
The cochairmen of the Environmental Working Group are to submit a
report on their results at the next meeting of the U.S.-Russian
Commission on Economic and Technological Cooperation.
For the United States For the Russian Federation:
of America:
________________________ ___________________________
Vice President of the Chairman of the Government
United States of America of the Russian Federation
NNNN
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