UrBC, Magnitogorsk, August 2, 2019. Director-General at Magnitogorsk Iron & Steel Works (MMK) Pavel Shilyayev took part in Chelyabinsk Region’s Environmental Council’s first meeting. The council got set up at the suggestion of Chelyabinsk Region’s Governor Alexei Teksler, MMK’s Information, PR & Advertising Department reports.

Representatives of large local enterprises and environmental organizations as well as members of the expert community also took part in the meeting. The council’s primary task is to develop an environmental standard for the constituency. The council will comprise scientists, industrialists, and public activists. Chair of Russia’s Environmental Society Rashid Ismailov will chair the council as well.

Governor Teksler pointed to Chelyabinsk Region’s leading industrial enterprises being open to cooperation.

‘It is only through the joint efforts of the authorities, the industrial enterprises, and the environmental experts that these problems can get solved. For many years, MMK has been implementing its own environmental programs, with tangible results. The expert community has acknowledged the plant’s contribution to environmental improvements in the area more than once. Our environmental programs, such as Clean City, for example, are now part of the national projects. To go through with the programs, however, we need to coordinate our actions and to collaborate with the government authorities and NGOs. I see the creation of the coordination council as both timely and necessary and hope for fruitful cooperation in the future,’ said MMK’s Director-General Pavel Shilyayev.