"Great Rivers" forum opens in Nizhny Novgorod

An international scientific and industrial forum called "Great Rivers" is opening in Nizhny Novgorod, a large industrial center on the Volga, on Tuesday. The four-day event was organized jointly by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, the Russian government, the Secretariat of the National Organizing Committee of the 3rd World Water Forum in Kyoto /Japan/, and the Russian National Committee on Promotion of UN Environmental Programs. Dedicated to steady development of civilizations in the basins of the world's great rivers, the forum will round off preparations for the 3rd World Water Forum, which is scheduled to take place in Kyoto in 2003. The two leading projects of the forum are called "10th Anniversary of the UN Conference on Environment and Development: Results of the Decisions Made and Priority Problems of Our Time," and "Steady Development of the Basins of Great Rivers: UNESCO Demonstration Project on the Basin of the Volga and the Caspian Sea." The congress will be divided into 13 sections, each featuring scientists from Russia, France, Holland, Poland, Belgium, the USA, Japan, and Germany. Simultaneously with the forum, Nizhny Novgorod opens a number of exhibitions: "Great Rivers of Russia," "Clear Water," "Fuel. Energy. Electronics. Conservation of Energy and Resources," and "Waste Recycling."