MINUTES (Final Protocol)
of the 20th Meeting of the Baltic Division of the United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names (UNGEGN)

Riga, 24th–26th September 2019

Русская версия

  1. The 20th Meeting of the Baltic Division of the United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names (UNGEGN) was held in Riga (Latvia) on 24th–26th September, 2019, at the invitation of the Latvian Geospatial Information Agency and the Latvian Language Institute of Latvian University.
  2. Experts from all the member states of the Baltic Division of UNGEGN took part in the Meeting: Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, and Russia. Full list of participants (45 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, hillforts, natural features; place names collecting; minority and dialectal toponymy; linguistic aspects related to geographical names standardization etc.
  4. 18 reports were presented and discussed.
  5. An exhibition was organized during the Meeting demonstrating toponymic and cartographic materials published in member states of the Baltic Division of UNGEGN as well as dictionaries and other materials related to geographical names.
  6. The participants of the Meeting discussed the proposal of Russia to create Rules of the Baltic Division of UNGEGN. The Draft Rules were submitted by Russia. Participants agreed that Draft Rules should be translated into English and sent to the heads and members of the Baltic Division of UNGEGN for consideration. Participants agreed to exchange their opinions regarding the Draft Rules by e-mail, addressed to the Chairperson and Vice-Chair of the Division and participants until January 1, 2020. Mailing list will be compiled by the Chairperson and participants for this purpose. The Rules will be discussed at the 21st meeting of the Baltic Division.
  7. The participants of the Meeting discussed the issue of holding the next meeting of the Baltic Division. It was decided to hold the 21st meeting of the Baltic Division in autumn 2020 in Tallinn.
  8. Participants decided to publish presentations and other documents of the 20th meeting of the Baltic Division of UNGEGN on the website of the Division (http://eki.ee/knn/ungegn/index.htm) until October 31st, 2019.
  9. Representatives of participating countries expressed desire for further cooperation and contacts.
  10. Representatives of participating countries expressed gratitude to the organizers of the 20th meeting of the Baltic Division of UNGEGN.

    11. Vita Strautniece
    Chairperson of the Baltic Division of UNGEGN