Sustainable environment and development must be a keystone of the Northern Dimension

12.00.00am BST (GMT +0100) Fri 30th Aug 2002

Diana Wallis MEP, representing the European Parliament at a Ministerial meeting in Illulisat, Greenland has called for sustainable environment and development to be a keystone of the Northern Dimension so underlining the north and Arctic environment concerns all citizens especially with reference to the ongoing Earth Summit in Johannesburg.

At the meeting of Foreign Ministers organised by the Danish Presidency to discuss the Northern Dimension and its Arctic Window, Diana Wallis asked for better co-ordination between the Arctic Council and the EU and other bodies involved on Arctic matters. In this context she suggested the formation of a Northern Dimension Forum as envisaged by the Luxembourg conclusions of 9 April 2001 which she said, " does not appear to have been taken forward".

Diana Wallis, who is 1st Vice-President of the EP's Switzerland, Iceland and Norway delegation also conveyed to the meeting the conclusions from the Conference of Arctic Parliamentarians which took place in August in Tromsø. An IT project encompassing communication and education goals could be combined with the e-dimension.

She went on to say that an extensive report on Human Development in the Arctic has been commissioned which could form the building block for many EU inter-regional programmes aimed at delivering commercial, social and cultural links and progress across the peoples of the North. "Yes EU-Russian border issues should be highlighted but the EU has the potential to contribute so much more in the wider spectrum of east-west, people to people, contacts across the region." Diana Wallis also asked for the Commission's annual report to the council on the Northern Dimension to be submitted to the European Parliament for its opinion.