Pamela Anderson to address environmental concerns at Eastern Economic Forum in Russia

LOS ANGELES, Aug. 13 (UPI) -- Model and actress Pamela Anderson will meet with Russia's minister of natural resources and environment at the upcoming East Russia Economic Forum to discuss environmental issues.

The former Baywatch star had sent a thank you letter to Evgeny Shumilov, an economic officer at the Russian Embassy in the United States, for accepting her request to attend the conference held in Vladivostok on September 3, The Moscow Times reported.

The Pamela Anderson Foundation is a charity organization devoted to human and animal rights, as well as to environmental issues.

"I am very interested in having my Foundation work with the government of Russia to make the world a better place," wrote Anderson. "Russia's commitment to defending biodiversity on both land and in the sea is imperative if we are to take the effective measures that are needed."

Anderson will also seek to persuade the Russian authorities to block the passage of the St Kitts and Nevis-registered whale-meat cargo ship Winter Bay, due to sail over the north-eastern passage in the Arctic. She has long been a part of the Save the Arctic campaign, an initiative launched by Greenpeace against oil drilling. The vessel recently left Tromso in Norway's harbour with 1,800 tons of whale meat en route to Japan, IceNews reported. Anderson penned a letter to Russian President Vladimir Putin last month urging him to act quickly and stop the shipment.

"The Russian Federation has great influence and I've seen how decisions by Russia can have a positive and beneficial impact on the environment and the welfare of animals," Anderson, a spokeswoman for People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals - or PETA- underscored in her letter.