OSCE meeting in Prague addresses environmental impact of energy-related activities

PRAGUE, 11 September 2013 – Ukrainian Foreign Minister, OSCE Chairperson-in-Office, Leonid Kozhara opened today a three-day OSCE conference in Prague which gathered representatives of the OSCE participating States, international and non-governmental organizations as well as experts to discuss how the OSCE can contribute to energy sustainability and prevent adverse environmental impacts of energy-related activities.

The 21st OSCE Economic and Environmental Forum highlights the Ukrainian Chairmanship’s priority in this dimension of the Organization’s work. Participants of the Forum will address the issues of sustainable energy and promoting good governance in the energy sector, and look at opportunities that renewable energy resources offer. The Forum will also review OSCE commitments in the energy field and discuss how the OSCE can help participating States’ in this sphere.

Ukrainian Foreign Minister, OSCE Chairperson-in-Office Leonid Kozhara called on the conference participants to promote sustainable production, transportation and consumption of energy in their own countries. “We should try to focus on the interrelated challenges of climate change, effective management of natural resources and energy efficiency,” he said. The Chairperson-in-Office highlighted the OSCE’s essential role as a “unique platform for broad dialogue and co-operation among equal partners”. Dialogue on these issues will continue at the high-level international conference “Energy Security and Sustainability – the OSCE Perspective” jointly hosted by the Ukrainian OSCE Chairmanship and the Government of Turkmenistan on 17-18 October 2013 in Ashgabat.

Jan Kohout, Czech Foreign Minister stressed that his country promotes a clearer link to security in all activities of the OSCE in the economic and environmental sphere, as well as the role of these activities as confidence-building measures.

OSCE Secretary General Lamberto Zannier stressed that energy and environmental issues pose an ever growing challenge, and all stakeholders, including the civil society, have a meaningful role to play in responding to it.

"The promotion of transparency, accountability and good governance in the field of environmental and energy-related activities throughout the whole OSCE region should continue to have priority in OSCE’s agenda. This is an opportunity to even more broadly involve private sector, civil society organizations and academia and support regional and sub-regional dialogue on specific energy and environmental issues,” he said.

For an agenda and background notes, please visit: https://www.osce.org/eea/21st_eef_2013