Danish Environment Minister Ellemann discusses recent St. Petersburg trip

ModernRussia.com recently had the opportunity interview Karen Ellemann, the Danish Minister for Environment, shortly after she returned from leading a business delegation trip to St. Petersburg, where she also took part in the Russian-Danish Waste Water Event.

Warm and ebullient, Minister Ellemann spoke about the strong partnership Denmark and Russia enjoy in the environmental sector as both countries seek to protect the environment of the Baltic Sea region. She also discussed the work underway in Russia to improve water supply and sewage systems in the St. Petersburg area, which Denmark is heavily involved in as well as the efforts of private Russian companies to improve waste water management.   

How was your recent visit to St. Petersburg?

I had a really fruitful trip. Denmark and Russia have strong traditions on cooperation on concrete projects, like the water supply and sewage projects that I was talking about in the Leningrad area. Since 1992 Denmark has provided significant support for Russia through the Danish corporation for environment in Central and Eastern Europe. And this support has been directed towards improving the environmental conditions which has been, and is, especially focused on the north eastern part of Russia at the Baltic Sea region. We’re continuously developing our cooperation and I was in St. Petersburg as head of the Danish business delegation working in exactly these fields - water supply and sewage projects. One of the things that I participated in was the Danish company Hvidtved Larsen which manufactures sewage trucks, has supplied the St. Petersburg water company Voda-Kanal with sewage trucks and number 100 was delivered yesterday [May16] so we had a specific ceremony and that’s a good set up to have further conversations about the whole waste water treatment challenge that every country is handling.

Do you have any future events or projects planned for Russia?

Well yes! Hopefully this cooperation will continue for many years ahead as well because we are continuously developing our cooperation, and in that respect we have a lot to give each other because Denmark has a lot of experience - Danish companies are among the best in the world when it comes to technologies that actually deliver environmental improvements, also in Russia. 

So Russia is a very important partner both in regards to green energy but also the green sectors in general and that’s where Russia and Denmark share a strong tradition of cooperation within this field. It’s my strong belief that this cooperation will continue many years ahead. 

Russia is currently pursuing a modernization agenda under President Medvedev, have you noticed a change in the government’s approach to these issues?

[Prime Minister Vladimir] Putin visited Copenhagen just a few weeks ago and he mentioned also the importance of bilateral cooperation in the environmental sector and I fully agree with Putin - no doubt there are many things we can learn from each other. And since we have this strong tradition for cooperation I have very optimistic views on the future on all these aspects. 

One lesson that everyone is learning is that economic development does not need to compromise our want to preserve the environment – it can actually go hand-in-hand. Technology is one of the keys and that’s why we have such a good basis for keeping our cooperation going. Besides being an important market and an important business partner for Denmark, Russia and Denmark share a common interest: preserving good environmental conditions in the region of the Baltic Sea.

You mentioned that you have worked with Voda-Kanal recently.

Yes, we had a very good meeting with [Voda-Kanal chief] Felix Karmazinov and they showed me an education centre that Voda-Kanal are going to open up in a few weeks, focusing on teaching young children what a precious gift clean water is and how to preserve it and act in an environmentally safe way.

Is that something Denmark has helped with?

Actually not that specific center, that’s part of Voda-Kanal so that must be their own initiative. I also visited the huge Baltika [a brewer which is part of the Danish Carlsberg Group] factory – this is really a company that has taken a new precision in insisting on acting environmentally safe and really has achieved great accomplishments and great results...You can study and look but it still takes a lot of personal and strong will to make it happen and that’s what I was shown – it was really impressive.