Opinions & Interviews

MINSK, 5 April (BelTA) – The joint project with the European Union has contributed to the development of green economy in Belarus, Belarusian First Deputy Natural Resources and Environmental Protection Minister Iya Malkina said at the opening of the international conference on green economy in Minsk on 5 April, BelTA has learned.

The conference sums up the results of the project Technical Assistance to Support the Development of Green Economy in Belarus funded by the European Union and implemented by the consortium led by Hulla and Co Human Dynamics KG. It was designed to facilitate institutional transformations in the country, including in the Belarusian legislation. The project ran for more than two years. It contributed to the preparation of the national action plan for the development of green economy in Belarus for the period until 2020 approved by the Belarusian government in December 2016. Another major focus of the project was on organic farming. Belarus’ plan of draft laws for 2017 features a law on organic farming. The law has been drafted in cooperation with experts engaged through the project of international technical assistance. For Belarus, this is a new field that holds great potential for the production of organic foods and creation of jobs in rural areas. Work was also underway in the field of certification of goods, works and services. The achieved results will be used to establish norms, rules and environmental quality standards. For the past several years, Belarus has been committed to the development of green economy, Iya Malkina noted.

She emphasized that the development of green economy is particularly relevant in the context of the Year of Science in Belarus. “We are always proud to say that our country has great intellectual potential. However, we should run slightly ahead of the global standards. We hope that the solutions designed by Belarusian scientists will help us achieve the goals that we have set out in the national action plan for the development of green economy for the period until 2020,” Iya Malkina emphasized.

Frederik Coene, Head of Operations Section at the Delegation of the European Union to Belarus, said that important Belarus-EU ties have been established through the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environmental Protection. “Much has been done during the implementation of the project. We are looking forward to new programs and strongly believe that together we can achieve considerable results,” he added.

Minsk is hosting an international conference on green economy in Belarus and ways to promote its development on 5 April. The forum is held by the Belarusian Ministry of Natural Resources and Environmental Protection jointly with the Institute of Economics of the National Academy of Sciences of Belarus with the help of the project Technical Assistance to Support the Development of Green Economy in Belarus funded by the European Union and implemented by the consortium led by Hulla and Co Human Dynamics KG. The conference aims to work out methodological approaches to Belarus’ transition to sustainable development and promotion of advanced scientific solutions in priority areas of green economy described in the national action plan for the development of green economy for the period until 2020.