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Delegation from the Russian Federation visits CMS Family in Bonn

Pictured from left: V. Ivlev (Russian Delegation), A. Duimagambetova (AEWA Secretariat), S. Kurdjukov (CMS Secretariat), I. Chestin (WWF Russia), Robert Hepworth (CMS Secretariat), A. Grigoryan (UNDP/GEF), A. Müller-Helmbrecht (CMS Secretariat), Dr. A. Amirkhanov (Russian Delegation), A. Antipov (Russian AdW), J. Sadirov (BMU), H. Schumacher (BfN)

Bonn, 23 March 2009 - A delegation from the Russian Federation headed by Dr. Amirkhan M. Amirkhanov, Deputy Director at the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environmental Protection and joined by Mr Vladimir Ivlev, Deputy Director at the Department of International Cooperation at the same ministry, visited the CMS Secretariat and its co-located Agreements (AEWA, EUROBATS and ASCOBANS) at the UN Premises in Bonn, while in Germany for German-Russian consultations on nature conservation projects.

The meeting was organised by the CMS Secretariat in close cooperation with the German Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety (BMU) and was attended by representatives from the Russian Ministry of Natural Resources and Environmental Protection, UNDP/GEF, WWF Russia, BMU, BfN and the CMS, AEWA and EUROBATS Secretariats.

Dr. A. Amirkhanov (Deputy Director at the Russian Ministry of Natural Resources and Environmental Protection) and Mr. V. Ivlev (Deputy Director of the Department for International Cooperation at the Russian Ministry of Natural Resources and Environmental Protection)

Dr. Aline Kühl (CMS Secretariat) gave a short presentation highlighting the importance of the Russian Federation for a large number of migratory species covered by CMS and its specialized Agreements and Memoranda of Understanding (MoU). Russia is an important breeding area for many Palearctic waterbird populations covered by the African-Eurasian Migratory Waterbird Agreement (AEWA) and is an important range state for various species that are listed on the CMS Appendices such as the endangered Snow Leopard, the Saiga Antelope and the critically endangered Slender-billed Curlew. ( www.slenderbilledcurlew.net )

In total, the Russian Federation is a range state to five of the seven binding international Agreements developed under CMS (being: AEWA, ACAP, ACCOBAMS, ASCOBANS and EUROBATS) and five MoUs currently in force (MoU's for the Siberian Crane, Slender-billed Curlew, Aquatic Warbler, Saiga Antelopes and the recently concluded African-Eurasian Raptors). To date, the Russian Federation has signed the MoU on the Siberian Crane and has benefited from its involvement through a major GEF project for this species - The Siberian Crane Wetland Project.

Following the presentation, the group engaged in an open discussion focusing on the question of Russian Federation accession to CMS and its other relevant Agreements and MoUs. Bert Lenten (AEWA) speaking on behalf of the CMS Family proposed - and the meeting agreed - to establish an informal working group between the CMS Family and the Department of International Cooperation at the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environmental Protection to support the accession of the Russian Federation to CMS and its relevant Agreements.