Business news

MINSK, 30 November (BelTA) - Belarus’ Ministry of Natural Protection and Environment is developing the mechanisms for providing targeted support to manufacturers implementing environmental practices, Belarus’ First Deputy Minister of Natural Resources and Environment Iya Malkina said at the final conference dedicated to the project “Supporting the Transition to a Green Economy in the Republic of Belarus”, BelTA has learned.

To promote the green economy ideas and to implement them in various areas there is a need to think over financing mechanisms. “Over the past few years our country has substantially revised the approaches to budgeting and to the state programs. Now we are thinking about possible ways to provide targeted support to our manufacturers. Certainly we will be moving along the trends of the key ministries of finance and economy. Yet, we see some untapped reserves. We are drafting the programs for 2020-2025, taking into account the sustainable development goals, to which Belarus is committed, and also international indicators. Another reserve is the optimization of the use of environmental tax funds, Iya Malkina said. Arranging contests of initiatives, as it was done during the implementation of this project, can be used as a basis for stimulating the interest of the public, encouraging the people to work according to the green economy principles.

The first deputy minister stressed the important result of Belarus' participation in the project: the green economy has become understandable and a really effective mechanism for the country. “We now know what should be done. The country turned to green economy long time ago. However, at first our targeted audience was not people but the administrative machinery which is responsible for decision-making in the country. We wanted to get them interested in the idea. As a result, we adopted a national action plan on green economy. We have been actively working on the implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals in national programs,” Iya Malkina said. She stressed that the state cannot enforce the principles of green economy. “We need a dialogue with the public and manufacturers in order to elaborate economic and legal stimuli and standards of cooperation,” Iya Malkina noted.

On 30 November Minsk summed up the results of the project “Supporting the Transition to a Green Economy in the Republic of Belarus”, funded by the EU (€5 million) and implemented by the UNDP in partnership with the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment of Belarus. From 2015 to 2017 some 23 pilot projects and initiatives were implemented across the country, including in partnership with government bodies, the business community, farmers. The areas of application were many: water resources, phyto production, eco-tourism, biodiversity, organic farming. Some 50 new green jobs were created and 270 people received additional employment opportunities.