OREANDA-NEWS. April 18, 2013. In the framework of the Russia presidency in the Council of the Baltic Sea States on April 9-10 2013 the XII meeting of the expert group on maritime policy and a topical workshop were held in Kaliningrad. Among the participants of the meeting were representatives of the authorities of the Baltic Sea states.

Russia was represented by employees of the Ministry of Transport, and other organizations, including the FSUE "Rosmorport" employees: S. A Bryzgalov, Counsel to General Director, V.L. Batyanov, Deputy Director for fleet of the North-West Basin Branch, A.N. Moshkov, Chief of the Kaliningrad Department, I.V. Sidlo, Chief Expert on Environmental Protection. The meeting was chaired by V.V. Klyuev, Deputy Director of the Department for State Maritime and River Transport Policy.

The major issues discussed at the meeting were techical and economic aspects of implementation of the new requirements of the International Convention for the Prevention of Pollution From Ships(MARPOL 73/78), in particular, Appendice VI to the Convetion, which deals with supervision over the emissions into the atmosphere from ships.

From January 1, 2015 in the Baltic Sea, which is a SOx Emission Control Area (SECA), the amount of sulphur in marine oil should not exceed 0.1% (at present the allowable limit is 1%). Besides, some European state suggest that the IMO makes the Baltic Sea a NOx Emission Control Area (NECA). The initiatives mentioned above present quite serious challenges to navigation in the Baltic region. It is on those issues that S.A. Bryzgalov, and V.L. Batyanov made their presentations at the meetings in Kaliningrad.
 
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The Council of the Baltic Sea States (CBSS) was founded in 1992, and at present unites 11 countries of the Baltic Sea region, including the Russian Federation. The Council is a political forum and, in a way, a momentum for regional intergovernmental cooperation. Each of the countries participants chairs the Council in turn. At present the Council is chaired by the Russian Federation.