UNITED NATIONS GROUP OF EXPERTS
ON GEOGRAPHICAL NAMES

BALTIC DIVISION

[eesti keeles] [по-русски]

Since 1967 the United Nations have organized every five years conferences on the standardization of geographical names, with the goal of promoting the use of standardized place names in international communication. Items discussed at the conferences include:

• formation of national names authorities,
• distribution of information on geographical names (data bases, gazetteers),
• adoption of single romanization systems for every non-Roman language,
• toponymic training courses and seminars,
• toponymic guidelines,
• list of country names,
• standardization of geographical names in multilingual areas,
• limitations on the use of exonyms,
• toponymic terminology.

At the intervals between the conferences the United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names (UNGEGN) is active, holding sessions every two years. The activities of UNGEGN are based on regional cooperation. In 1992, at the Sixth UN Conference on the Standardization of Geographical Names the Baltic Division was formed. The Division consists of experts from Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and the Russian Federation. The coordinators and Chairs of the Baltic Division have been the following: 1992–1998 Estonia (Peeter Päll), 1998–2002 Latvia (Jurģis Kavacs, Vita Strautniece), 2002–2007 Lithuania (Danutė Mardosienė). Since 2007 the Division is again coordinated by Estonia, and the Vice-Chair will be named by the Russian delegation. In addition to linguistic/geographical divisions UNGEGN has formed working groups to deal with specific questions. These working groups are attended by experts from various countries.

During the five-year period from 2007 to 2012 Estonia will coordinate the activities of the Division. At a meeting of the Division held in New York during the 9th UN Conference on the Standardization of Geographical Names Ms. Aule Kikas was elected Chair of the Baltic Division, and Mr. Vladimir Boginskij from Russian Federation was elected Vice-Chair of the Division.

To give an overview on the activities of the Baltic Division concerning the standardization of geographical names the Place Names Board of Estonia has opened a page that contains documents in English and Russian, presented at earlier international forums on names standardization. In addition to the work in the Baltic Division experts have participated as guests at sessions of the Norden Division and Eastern Europe, North and Central Asia Division of UNGEGN.

More information on the activities of the United Nations in the field of standardization of geographical names you may find at the UNGEGN website.

• 13th Meeting of the Baltic Division (Vilnius, 1–2 October 2009)
  • Agenda and presented documents
  • Minutes of the meeting
  • Photos: participants in the meeting 1, 2


• 12th Meeting of the Baltic Division (Kaliningrad, 16–18 September 2008)
  • Agenda and presented documents (in English, incl. photos)
  • Minutes of the meeting (in Russian)
  • Photo: participants in the meeting


• 11th Meeting of the Baltic Division (New York, 24 August 2007)
  • Minutes of the meeting
  • Photo: participants in the meeting


• 10th Meeting of the Baltic Division (Tallinn, 12–13 October 2006)
  • Agenda and presented documents (incl. the meeting of the Working Group on Romanization Systems, more photos)
  • Report of the meeting (in Russian)
  • Photos: participants in the meeting, meeting room: 1, 2, 3


• 9th Meeting of the Baltic Division (Jūrmala, 11–13 October 2005)
  • Agenda and presented documents
  • Report of the meeting (in Russian)
  • Photos: participants in the meeting, meeting room (1, 2, 3, 4), Latvian experts (1, 2), Estonian experts, Lithuanian experts (1, 2), Russian experts, Polish and Belarusian experts; see also photos on the excursion to Ventspils under "Agenda and presented documents"


• 8th Meeting of the Baltic Division (Vilnius, 7–8 October 2004)
  • Agenda and presented documents


• 7th Meeting of the Baltic Division (New York, 27 April 2004)
  • Report of the meeting
  • Participants of the meeting (photo)


• 22nd Session of UNGEGN (New York, 20-29 April, 2004)
  • Report of the Baltic Division
  • New legislation in Estonia concerning geographical names (English translation of the Place Names Act)
  • Photos: experts of the Baltic Division in the meeting room and at the UN emblem


• 6th Meeting of the Baltic Division (Kihnu, Estonia, 28-30 May 2003)
  • Agenda and presented documents (+photos, the same in Estonian, Russian)
  • Report of the meeting (being prepared)
  • Participants of the meeting (photo)


• 5th Meeting of the Baltic Division (Berlin, 2 September 2002)
  • Report of the meeting (in Russian)


• The Eighth United Nations Conference on the Standardization of Geographical Names (Berlin, 27 August - 5 September 2002)
  • Report of Estonia
  • For other documents see the UNGEGN website (CRP.64, CRP.68)


• 4th Meeting of the Baltic Division (Riga, 25 April 2002)
  • Agenda and presented documents (the same in Estonian, Latvian, Russian)
  • Report of the meeting (in Russian)
  • Participants of the meeting (photo, 870 kB)


• 3rd Meeting of the Baltic Division (Vilnius, 16-17 November 2000)
  • Agenda and presented documents (the same in Estonian, Lithuanian, Russian)
  • Report of the meeting (in Russian)
  • The standardization and preservation of toponyms in Lithuania


• 20th Session of UNGEGN (New York, 17.-28 January 2000)
  • Agenda
  • Report of the Baltic Division
  • Legislation in Estonia concerning geographical names (translation of the Place Names Act)
  • UN press releases: 19 January, 28 January


• The Seventh United Nations Conference on the Standardization of Geographical Names (New York, 13-22 January 1998)
  • Agenda
  • UN press release
  • Conference resolutions (on the pages of CPCGN)
  • Report of Estonia
  • The Estonian Law on Place Names
  • Homepage of the Place Names Board of Estonia
  • Toponymic guidelines for map and other editors - Estonia
    • Annex: Administrative division of Estonia (updated: October 2002)
  • Report of the Baltic Division
    • Addendum: Standardization of geographical names in Lithuania


• 2nd Meeting of the Baltic Division (Riga, 25 April 1997)
  • Report of the meeting (in English) (in Russian)
  • Review of the meeting and the International Toponymic Training Course for UNGEGN Newsletter No. 18-19


• 2nd Meeting of the Eastern Europe, North and Central Asia Division of UNGEGN (Moscow,16-18 July 1996)
  • Standardization of geographical names in Estonia (in Russian)


• 18th Session of UNGEGN (Geneva, 12-23 August 1996)
  • Report of the Baltic Division


• Working meeting of the Baltic Division of UNGEGN (Riga, 6 May 1996)
  • Report of the meeting (in Russian)


• 1st Meeting of the Baltic Division (Tallinn, 26-27 October 1995)
  • Report of the meeting (in English) (short version in Russian)


• 17th Session of UNGEGN (New York, 13-24 June 1994)
  • Report of the Baltic Division


• The Sixth United Nations Conference on the Standardization of Geographical Names (New York, 25 August - 03 September 1992)
  • Report of Estonia


• Baltic Regional Meeting on the Standardization of Geographical Names (Tallinn, 7–8 May 1992)
  • Report of the meeting

Homepage of the Place Names Board of Estonia

Opening of the page: 13 October 1997
Last changes: 26 October 2009
Comments, suggestions (Peeter Päll)