On the meeting with the Executive Secretary of the Basel, Rotterdam and Stockholm conventions
02.05.2017
On May 1, 2017 in Geneva, on the margins of the Triple Conferences of Parties to Basel, Rotterdam and Stockholm conventions, Mr. Siarhey Sychyk, Director of the Republican Scientific and Practical Center for Hygiene of the Ministry of Public Health of the Republic of Belarus, met Executive Secretary of the three conventions Mr. Rolf Paet.
During the meeting, issues of cooperation of the Republic of Belarus with the Secretariat of the Basel, Rotterdam and Stockholm conventions in the field of sound management of chemicals were discussed.
Mr. Sychyk informed about the intention of the Republic of Belarus to join the Rotterdam Convention. He reported on the Belarus’ experience and ongoing programs in the field of chemical safety both at the national level and in the framework of integration associations. Mr. Payet emphasized his broad support to Belarus in the process of preparations and accession to the Rotterdam Convention. The interlocutors also discussed issues of technical assistance and methodological support to national capacity-building measures in this field.
The parties noted that accession to the Rotterdam Convention would help to protect public health from the effects of potentially hazardous chemicals and would enable Belarus to become a full-fledged party to international processes of management of hazardous chemicals and waste.
The Rotterdam Convention is one of the three Conventions aimed at the global management of hazardous chemicals and waste, along with the Stockholm Convention (the Republic of Belarus joined in 2003) and the Basel Convention (the Republic of Belarus acceded in 1999).
The text of the Rotterdam Convention was adopted on 10 September 1998 by a Conference of Plenipotentiaries in Rotterdam, the Netherlands. The Convention entered into force on 24 February 2004. As of January 2017, the Convention has 157 Parties.
