Russian-Estonian Agreement on Navigation on Shared Lakes Now in Force

Navigation between Russia and Estonia disrupted over 9 years ago will be resumed shortly. An agreement between the two countries concerning shipping on the shared lakes has just gone into force.

According to the press service of the administration of the Pskov Region, the parties have exchanged the lists of vessels allowed to cross the border on the shipping routes connecting Tartu with Prague and the two with Storozhinets and Pskov. Pskov's regional administration expects the animation of international cooperation now that navigation has been restored. Over the first year after the signing of this agreement, the port of Tartu is expected to receive up to 100,000 tonnes of various cargos and up to 3,000 passengers from other Estonian ports, Russia, and Finland.

The agreement on navigation on shared waters was signed on March 20 this year, in Moscow, by Sergei Frank, the Minister of Transportation of Russia, and Liina Tynisson, the Minister of Economy of Estonia. It was confirmed and supplemented by a bilateral agreement on border crossings signed for Estonia and Russia by Konstantin Provalov, Russia's Ambassador in Tallinn, and Kristiina Ojuland, Estonia's Foreign Minister, in Tallinn, on June 25, 2002.