MONACO, October 2 (Itar-Tass) - Monaco pays special attention to environmental issues, and is grateful to Russia for its help in organizing an expedition to the North Pole, Prince Albert II of Monaco said in an interview with Mikhail Gusman, First Deputy Director-General of Itar-Tass, ahead of his visit to the Russian Federation.
“These issues have become very important not only for me personally but also for my foundation that was set up several months after my return from an excellent expedition to the North Pole,” Prince Albert II said. “I take advantage of an opportunity to once again express my gratitude to the Russian authorities for the help they offered in holding the expedition. We would not have been able to organize it without financial and logistical support,” he said.
In 2006, he led an expedition to the North Pole to draw attention of the world public to problems of global warming, and in 2009 he made a trip to the South Pole. Thus, Prince Albert II became the first head of state visiting both poles.
“Environmental issues have become important not only for my foundation, but for the whole Principality,” he stressed. According to the prince, at the moment the foundation takes part in 200 projects, many of which are connected with international cooperation, stable development, as well as assistance to people who have become victims to climatic changes.
“All this testifies to the fact that environmental issues are among the main priorities for us. I think that unfortunately, these tasks will be getting more and more significant in the future. We need international cooperation in order to tackle them efficiently,” Albert II said.