Events

MINSK, 6 June (BelTA) – A special discussion, Prevention and Mitigation of Consequences of Man-Made Catastrophes: the Example of Cooperation on Chernobyl under the UN, took place in the UN headquarters in New York, BelTA learnt from the press service of the Belarusian Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Oleg Yermolovich, Director-General for Multilateral Diplomacy of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Belarus, took part in the event as a key speaker. “The Belarusian diplomat presented proposals of our country for the further international cooperation under the aegis of the UN in the Chernobyl issues. Such cooperation was supported by participants of the roundtable, including Russia and Kazakhstan,” the press service said.

A specially invited expert of the U.S. Department of State presented a review on the modern nuclear safety development. Cooperation in mitigating the consequences of the Chernobyl accident made the foundation of the document.

Assistant Administrator and Director of the Regional Bureau for Europe and the CIS of the UN Development Program Cihan Sultanoglu told the participants of the meeting about the main achievements in the international Chernobyl cooperation as part of the UN efforts to restore and promote sustainable development of the Chernobyl-hit regions.

UN Assistant Secretary-General for Economic Development Lenni Montiel, for his part, drew the attention of the participants to the implementation of the sustainable development goals in the regions hit by industrial accidents.

Various aspects of interaction on Chernobyl were voiced by representatives of the International Atomic Energy Agency, the UN Office for Disaster Risk Reduction, the World Health Organization, and the UN Environment Programme.

“Participants stressed that the interdisciplinary nature of the Belarus-sponsored roundtable greatly enriched the discussion within the UN on many issues interrelated with Chernobyl: sustainable development, Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction, healthcare, environmental protection,” the press service noted.

The event in the format of the roundtable was organized by the Permanent Mission of Belarus to the United Nations, the United Nations Development Programme and the American non-governmental organizations “Chernobyl Project” and “Russian-American Foundation”. The main objective of the roundtable was to review the global experience on Chernobyl issues in the light of its relevance in the context of international efforts to respond to technological accidents.