A roundtable organized by the Irkutsk Region Natural Resources and Environment Ministry and the Fund for Protection of Lake Baikal was held as part of the Siberian Natural Resource Management (Sibnedrapolzovaniye) Forum at the Sibexpo Exhibition Complex in Irkutsk. The event was attended by representatives of the local government, leading Irkutsk and Buryat scientists, as well as organizers and participants of the expedition. Welcoming addresses were given by Irkutsk Region Natural Resources and Ecology Minister O. Gaikova, Deputy of the Irkutsk Region Legislative Assembly Y. Faleychik and Vice President of the Fund for Protection of Lake Baikal M. Borzin. A welcoming address of the Fund for Protection of Lake Baikal President A. Chilingarov also was read to the event’s participants. “Obviously, we cannot rest on our laurels,” Chilingarov said. “The short diving seasons yielded a lot of information about Lake Baikal, but the research of Lake Baikal using the Mir-1 and Mir-2 submersions has shown that it is extremely important that this work should continue.”
Chilingarov’s address was followed by speeches by Corresponding Member of the Russian Academy of Sciences (RAS) and Director of the Baikal Institute of Nature Management (Siberian Branch of the RAS) A. Tulokhonov; Director of the the Fund for Protection of Lake Baikal B. Tsyrenov; Hero of Russia and Commander of the Mir Y. Chernyaev; Director of the Baikal Museum of the Irkutsk Science Center (Siberian Branch of the RAS) V. Fialkov; RAS Academician M. Kuzmin; and Head of the Lake Baikal Geology Laboratory of the Limnological Institute of the academy’s Siberian Branch O. Khlystov on the scientific achievements made during the expedition and the organizational peculiarities of the research.