Bergen, Norway; 26 September 1996 (RFE/RL) -- The United States, Norway and Russia today signed an agreement to establish a cooperative forum jointly to address military environmental problems in the Arctic.
The forum will be particularly concerned with ways of cleaning up military radioactive waste left in the area, and methods of dealing with the environmental problems in the future.
The agreement crowns a long process of negotiations involving the three countries. It was signed in the Norwegian city of Bergen by U.S. Defense Secretary William Perry and his counterparts, Jorgen Kosmo of Norway and Igor Rodionov of Russia.
In Canada last week, the governments of eight countries bordering the Arctic and representatives of three aboriginal groups signed a declaration establishing an Arctic Council devoted to protection of the northern environment. Nations on the council are Canada, the U.S., Russia, Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden.