Opinions & Interviews

“The global development in the context of globalized crises has revealed that interstate integration projects are more competitive than isolated participants of international relations. Twenty years of history have proved that despite all the challenges, the CIS is a viable and rather promising interstate organization,” Anatoly Rubinov said.

In his words, it was for a reason that Belarus was honored to host the forum in the year that was declared by the CIS the Year of Ecological Culture and Environmental Protection. Belarus boasts a great number of historical and cultural monuments, many of which were inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List. “The jewels of Belarus and entire Europe are unique national parks; there are 99 nationwide wildlife reserves and over 400 local wildlife reserves. They all are extremely important for the regional and global climate. Conservation areas account for nearly a quarter of Belarus’ territory and are strongly protected by the law. We have a sophisticated environmental legislation regulating specially protected natural areas, natural ecological systems, biological and landscape diversity. The sustainable development concept based on the ecological narrative was developed by the United Nations. Belarus implements this concept in the form of national programs aimed at securing careful and rational use of natural resources. A state council for mineral resources was set up to coordinate efforts in this field,” Anatoly Rubinov said.

He added that Belarus is actively promoting “green energy”.