MINUTES
of the 22nd Meeting of the Baltic Division of the United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names (UNGEGN)

Warszawa (Warsaw), 15th–17th March 2023

  1. The 22nd Meeting of the Baltic Division of the United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names (UNGEGN) was held in Warsaw, Poland on 15th–17th March, 2023, at the invitation of the Surveyor General of Poland and the Head Office of Geodesy and Cartography.
  2. Experts from four member states of the Baltic Division of UNGEGN took part in the meeting: Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, and Poland. Experts from observer countries Czechia and Slovakia took also part. Experts from Russia (a member state of the Baltic Division) and Belarus (an observer state) were not invited to the meeting due to the boycott (see point 5 below) of these countries by the other members of the division. Full list of participants (24 persons) is given in the Annex.
  3. The participants of the meeting exchanged information and experience on the status of work on national standardization of geographical names carried out in their countries including issues concerning national authorities on the standardization of geographical names and legislation in the field of naming of geographical objects; the status and development perspectives of national toponymic databases, cadastres, registers etc.; the naming of urban objects, natural features; place names collecting; revision and updating of geographical names; using foreign geographical names (e.g. Ukrainian); linguistic aspects related to geographical names standardization etc. The participants of the meeting were invited to proceed with the preparation of tentative lists of selected toponyms from their respective countries in Arabic for further technical discussion on their possible coordination and presentation to the outer world.
  4. 17 reports were presented and discussed.
  5. Representatives of participating countries supported the “Joint statement by UNGEGN experts from Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Poland in response to the aggression against Ukraine” adopted on 21st March 2022 and published at the divisional web-site.
  6. Experts from member states of the Baltic Division decided to cease all official contacts with representatives of Russia and Belarus within the Baltic Division and UNGEGN.
  7. Experts from member states of the Baltic Division decided that English remains the only working language of the Baltic Division; Russian would no longer be the working language of the Baltic Division.
  8. Experts from member states of the Baltic Division decided to cancel all hitherto works related to the “Rules of the Baltic Division of the United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names”, and not to adopt these rules. Simultaneosly, the participants of the meeting decided to confirm the hitherto rotation scheme for: electing the chair of the Baltic Division, electing the vice-chair of the Baltic Division, selecting a hosting country of a subsequent meeting.
  9. The participants of the meeting discussed the issue of holding the next meeting of the Baltic Division. It was decided to hold the 23rd meeting of the Baltic Division in 2024 or 2025 in Lithuania.
  10. Participants decided to publish presentations and other documents of the 22nd meeting of the Baltic Division of UNGEGN on the website of the Division (http://eki.ee/knn/ungegn/index.htm).
  11. Representatives of participating countries expressed desire for further cooperation and contacts.
  12. Representatives of participating countries expressed gratitude to the organizers of the 22nd meeting of the Baltic Division of UNGEGN.

    13. Maciej Zych
    Chairperson of the Baltic Division of UNGEGN