Signature of the Pelagos Headquarters Agreement in Monaco

Today, a Signing Ceremony for the Headquarters Agreement between the Prince's Government, the Parties and the Permanent Secretariat of the Pelagos Agreement was held at the Residence of the Minister of State.

The signatories, from left to right: H.E. Mr. Xavier Sticker, Ambassador for the Environment, President of the Meeting of the Parties of the Pelagos Agreement; Mr. Gilles Tonelli, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation and Ms. Fannie Dubois, Executive Secretary of the Pelagos Agreement.

With H.S.H. the Sovereign Prince, Ms. Ségolène Royal, French Minister of the Environment, Energy and the Sea, responsible for International Relations on Climate, and Mr. Gian Luca Galletti, Italian Minister of the Environment and the Protection of the Territory and the Sea.

This important occasion, which was part of side-events for Monaco Ocean Week, took place in the presence of H.S.H. Prince Albert II and the French and Italian environment ministers, Ségolène Royal and Gian Luca Galletti. The signing of the Headquarters Agreement enables the legal status of the Permanent Secretariat of Pelagos to be recognised in the Principality.

As a reminder, the Pelagos Agreement, which was signed by France, Italy and Monaco on 25 November 1999 in Rome, relates to the creation of a Sanctuary to protect marine mammals and their habitats from all anthropogenic threats. The Sanctuary consists of a pilot area of the Agreement on the Conservation of Cetaceans in the Black Sea, Mediterranean Sea and Contiguous Atlantic Area (ACCOBAMS). The Pelagos Sanctuary is the only international marine protected area devoted to the protection of marine mammals in the Mediterranean. Thanks to its particular hydrological conditions, this maritime area of 87,500 km² (33,590 square miles) is rich in biological diversity and is host to many species of cetaceans.

A report will be available on Monaco Info this evening from 7 p.m.