Lithuanian authorities fail to attend public hearings on Belarus' NPP project in Ostrovets

Belarus invited representatives of the Lithuanian ministries and government agencies to participate in the public hearings on the construction of the Belarusian nuclear power plant, but none of the representatives arrived for this event, First Deputy Minister of Natural Resources and Environmental Protection of Belarus Vitaly Kulyk said during a meeting with representatives of the Lithuanian public on 17 August, BelTA learned.

According to the First Deputy Minister, the Belarusian side was ready to give answers to the questions of the representatives of Lithuania who arrived in Ostrovets for the public debate. He noted that the current meeting was not mandatory from the point of view of the Espoo Convention. "However, Belarus is doing it," said Vitaly Kulik. He said that in violation of the recommendations of the Espoo Convention, the Lithuanian side did not post Belarus’ EAI report on their Internet resources. Belarus had to translate the document into Lithuanian and post it on the websites of the Belarusian government bodies.

Vitaly Kulik recalled that the first hearing in Vilnius in 2010 was attended by about 80 people on behalf of Lithuania.