ALMATY.  April 7. KAZINFORM  /Yekaterina Ionova/ Struan Stevenson, Member of the European Parliament for Scotland, Personal Representative of the OSCE Chairman-in-Office for Ecology and the Environment gave a traditional press conference at the Kazakhstan Press Club in Almaty today.

The Government of Kazakhstan invited S. Stevenson to hold the post of the Personal Representative of the OSCE Chairman for Ecology and Environment and issue a comprehensive report on ecological disasters of the region. During the year S. Stevenson intends to visit the countries of Central Asia. He has already visited Turkmenistan and Kyrgyzstan.

"This year I plan to make a trip around Tajikistan, Uzbekistan and, of course, Kazakhstan. I would like to spend a week in the area of the Aral Sea and a week at the former Semey polygon since these are the sites of largest man-made disasters of our planet", S. Stevenson said.

The Deputy of Scotland is actively engaged in work in Kazakhstan. Thus, on April 6 S. Stevenson was invited to accompany UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon in his flight tour over the top secret area of nuclear testing. The flight started in Semey and ended in nuclear center of Kurchatov town, in 40 km from the polygon. Earlier, on April 5, S. Stevenson gave a lecture to the students of the Semey Shakarim University.

"I will present my final report in Vienna in autumn at a plenary session of the OSCE and I hope I will be able to propose certain ways of solution of many urgent problems negatively impacting ecology and environment in Central Asia", S. Stevenson said.

Being a deputy of the European Parliament S. Stevenson has been heading the international campaign on distribution of information and assisting the victims of radiation living in Semey and in the region for 11 years. In September 2004 he won USD 50, 000 prize at an international essay competition for an essay "Crying Forever" describing the life of long-suffering people of Semey. The Deputy donated these funds to Mercy Corps in Scotland to assist with their work in Semipalatinsk. In 2006 S. Stevenson published a book entitled "Crying Forever - Nuclear Diary". All funds received from sale of the book were presented to Children's Hospital of Semey.