Minutes of the 16th Meeting of the Baltic Division of United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names (UNGEGN)

Tallinn, September 18, 2013

Русская версия

  1. The 16th meeting of the Baltic Division of the United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names (UNGEGN) took place on September 18, 2013 in Tallinn, Estonia upon the invitation of the Estonian Ministry of the Interior.
  2. Experts from the following member countries of the Baltic Division took part in the meeting: Estonia (Marja Kallasmaa, Mall Kivisalu, Jaak Maandi, Peeter Päll, Tõnis Rüütel, Evar Saar, Liisi Sokk, Urmas Sutrop, Väino Tõemets and Olev Veskimäe), Latvia (Vita Strautniece –Vice-Chair of the Division, Zane Cekula, Otīlija Kovaļevska, Sanda Rapa, Ineta Rušmane, and Māra Šterna), Lithuania (Laimutis Bilkis, Dalia Kačinaitė-Vrubliauskienė, Kipras Mensevičius, Lina Papšienė, Sigitas Rušinskas, Valdas Urbanavičius and Raminta Vitkauskienė), Poland (Katarzyna Przyszewska and Jerzy Ziuzia), Russian Federation (Marina Morozova – Chair of the Baltic Division, Vladimir Boginskiy); experts from the observing countries: Belarus (Irina Borodich). Also present were members of the Norden Division from Denmark, Norway and Sweden. Full list of participants is in Annex 1.
  3. Participants of the meeting discussed and adopted the agenda of the 16th meeting of the Baltic Division (Annex 2).
  4. Participants of the meeting exchanged information about the status of legal, methodical and organizational base of national standardization of geographical names, about the status and development perspectives of national toponymic databases (cadastres, registers etc.); the use of geographical names in maps, the use and preservation of geographical names as part of a cultural and historical heritage. Altogether 12 papers were read. There was a small exhibition of specific cartographic production, e.g.specifically for the blind peole (Poland), toponymic glossaries and dictionaries that have been published in participating countries.
  5. Participants welcomed the joint initiative of the Baltic and Norden Division in arranging a seminar on the integration of onomastic data into geo-spatial infrastructure.
  6. Participants of the meeting discussed preparations for the 28th session of UNGEGN in May 2014. Information for the divisional report is expected by the end of 2013 by the Chair of the Division.
  7. Participants of the meeting discussed the next meeting of the Baltic Division after 2013. The next meeting according to rotation principle is anticipated in Warsaw, Poland in the second half of 2014.
  8. It was recommended to publish the materials and other documents of the 16th meeting of the Baltic Division on the website of the Baltic Division (http://eki.ee/knn/ungegn/index.htm; http://eki.ee/knn/ungegn/bd_ru.htm) before October 15, 2013.
  9. Representatives of participating countries expressed desire for further cooperation and contacts.
  10. Representatives of participating countries addressed expressed appreciation and gratitude to the organizers of the meeting.

Marina Morozova
Chair of the meeting