Assistant to the President and Head of the Presidential Control Directorate Konstantin Chuychenko chaired a meeting in the Primorye Territory on saving Amur tigers and Far Eastern leopards.

The participants summed up interim results, discussed problems and worked out a consolidated stance. Mr Chuychenko stressed the need to intensify the fight against poaching and stressed the importance of involving local residents in the conservation effort.

First Deputy Governor of the Primorye Territory Alexander Kostenko said that a number of projects to save Amur tigers and Far Eastern leopards were in progress in the region.

The authorities have established a territorial nature reserve, Sredneussuriysky, and a protective zone for the Land of the Leopard National Park. A federal-scale national park is being created in the upper and middle reaches of the Bikin River. Forestry regime has been tightened of late to minimise negative factors that destroy the tiger and leopard habitats.

Following the meeting, the Primorye Territory administration and the Centre for the Study and Preservation of the Amur Tiger Population signed a cooperation agreement in order to analyse proposals on how to preserve the Amur tiger with an eye to amending Russian laws regulating the effort to preserve the species and its habitat and to fight poaching.