UNITED NATIONS GROUP OF EXPERTS
ON GEOGRAPHICAL NAMES
BALTIC DIVISION
Since 1967 and until 2017 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.
Starting 2019 these tasks have been overtaken by the United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names (UNGEGN) that holds sessions every two years, the 1st session of the new UNGEGN took place in April-May 2019.
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, Poland (since 2012) 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), 2007–2012 Estonia (Aule Kikas), 2012–2017 Russian Federation (Marina Morozova), 2018–2021 Latvia (Vita Strautniece). Since 2021 the Division is coordinated by Poland, and the Vice-Chair is named by Lithuania. 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 four-year period from 2021 to 2025 Poland will coordinate the activities of the Division. At the 21st meeting of the Division held in Tallinn/virtually in September 2021 Mr. Maciej Zych was elected Chairperson of the Baltic Division. Ms Rita Viliuvienė from Lithuania will serve as Vice-Chair.
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.
- 22nd Meeting of the Baltic Division (Warsaw, 15–17 March 2023)
- Joint statement by UNGEGN experts from Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Poland in response to the aggression against Ukraine (21 March 2022)
- 21st Meeting of the Baltic Division (Tallinn/virtual, 23–24 September 2021)
- 20th Meeting of the Baltic Division (Rīga, 24–26 September 2019)
- 19th Meeting of the Baltic Division (Vilnius, 21–24 May 2018)
- 18th Meeting of the Baltic Division (St. Petersburg, 23–25 August 2016)
- 17th Meeting of the Baltic Division (Warsaw, 29 June – 1 July 2015)
- 16th Meeting of the Baltic Division (Tallinn, 18–20 September 2013)
- 15th Meeting of the Baltic Division (Rīga, 27–29 March 2012)
- 14th Meeting of the Baltic Division (Vienna, 6 May 2011)
- 13th Meeting of the Baltic Division (Vilnius, 1–2 October 2009)
- 12th Meeting of the Baltic Division (Kaliningrad, 16–18 September 2008)
- 11th Meeting of the Baltic Division (New York, 24 August 2007)
- 10th Meeting of the Baltic Division (Tallinn, 12–13 October 2006)
- 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)
- 7th Meeting of the Baltic Division (New York, 27 April 2004)
- 22nd Session of UNGEGN (New York, 20-29 April, 2004)
- 6th Meeting of the Baltic Division (Kihnu, Estonia, 28-30 May 2003)
- 5th Meeting of the Baltic Division (Berlin, 2 September 2002)
- The Eighth United Nations Conference on the Standardization of Geographical Names (Berlin, 27 August - 5 September 2002)
- 4th Meeting of the Baltic Division (Riga, 25 April 2002)
- 3rd Meeting of the Baltic Division (Vilnius, 16-17 November 2000)
- 20th Session of UNGEGN (New York, 17.-28 January 2000)
- The Seventh United Nations Conference on the Standardization of Geographical Names (New York, 13-22 January 1998)
- 2nd Meeting of the Baltic Division (Riga, 25 April 1997)
- 2nd Meeting of the Eastern Europe, North and Central Asia Division of UNGEGN (Moscow,16-18 July 1996)
- 18th Session of UNGEGN (Geneva, 12-23 August 1996)
- Working meeting of the Baltic Division of UNGEGN (Riga, 6 May 1996)
- 1st Meeting of the Baltic Division (Tallinn, 26-27 October 1995)
- 17th Session of UNGEGN (New York, 13-24 June 1994)
- The Sixth United Nations Conference on the Standardization of Geographical Names (New York, 25 August - 03 September 1992)
- Baltic Regional Meeting on the Standardization of Geographical Names (Tallinn, 7–8 May 1992)
Homepage of the Place Names Board of Estonia
See also:
Opening of the page: 13 October 1997
Last changes: 28 April 2023
Comments, suggestions (Peeter Päll)
