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

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