Economic and environmental activities

The OSCE Office in Minsk undertakes a number of activities to promote environmental and economic development in Belarus as well as international co-operation.

Environmental activities

In the environmental sector, the Office's activities have included:

Environmental security

• The Office in Minsk - together with its key partners, the UN Environment Programme and the UN Development Programme - produced in 2007 a comprehensive assessment of the environment and security situation, hotspots and potential joint projects under the Environment and Security Initiative (ENVSEC) and has since then supported trans-border projects such as: Enhancing capabilities for joint management of the Lake Drisviati basin bordering Lithuania and Enhancing capabilities for water management for the Prypiat River bordering Ukraine.
• The Office in 2008 and 2009 has supported regional students' contests on the theme of the environment and security with the participation of 8 universities from 5 CIS states.
• The Office has promoted the use of 'Green Pack' educational material on ecology and the environment (see the 'Projects' page for more details).

Environmental conventions

• The Office supported the Belarusian authorities in implementing the Kyoto Protocol, and supports training of experts for the Kyoto Protocol's carbon registry. Belarus is listed on Annex B of the Kyoto Protocol, committing it to measurably reducing its greenhouse gas emissions.
• The Office, which set up the Aarhus Center in Minsk in 2005, has since organized training for managers and lawyers of the Minsk Aarhus Centre, in Kiev and in Armenia, where wider scopes of activities and regional centres have been created with OSCE assistance. The Office also supported networking and exchanges of best practices at the Istanbul Aarhus conference in January 2010 organized in coordination with the UNECE. The Office in Minsk supported in 2009, upon agreement with the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environmental Protection, a project to increase legal expertise through which Belarus can comply with Article 9 of the Aarhus Convention on access to information and justice on ecological relevant issues.
• The Office is also assisting the authorities with the practical implementation of the Espoo Convention on Environmental Impact Assessment in a Transboundary Context. In compliance with the Espoo Convention, it is promoting the environmental impact assessment in a transboundary context in relation to hydropower stations in the Grodno region bordering Lithuania.
• In the context of the Ramsar Convention, the Office also supported a project promoting the establishment of a natural reserve in the Braslav lakes region bordering Lithuania.
• In the Chernobyl-affected territories, the Office was a founding member of the CORE programme in 2003 (see CORE document) for the rehabilitation of the living conditions in the territories. Since then more then 15 local projects have been implemented whereby grassroots initiatives received expertise and financial support to improve their livelihoods. In 2010 the Office continues to support agro-business development activities as well as a project aiming at enhancing capabilities for rural youth entrepreneurship.

Economic activities

The Office carries out a number of activities to assist with economic development in Belarus.

Energy security and energy efficiency

• In December 2009, the Office organized in Minsk, in co-ordination with the Office of the Co-ordinator of Economic and Environmental Affairs, a Central and Eastern Europe expert's workshop on the protection of critical energy infrastructures.
• In October 2009, the Office organized in Minsk an Eastern Europe experts' workshop on policies and tariffs for alternative energies, in partnership with the national Department for Energy Efficiency and the International Sakharov Environmental University. The Office promotes processes aimed at reaching the best energy mix within current economic constraints and pressure on traditional fossil fuels.
• In 2008, the Office and the International Sakharov Environmental University organized a seminar on the use of biomass for producing energy, with the participation of Austrian and German experts and is supporting awareness raising activities for students in the area of green energies.

Good governance

• In November 2008, the Office organized an expert seminar on legislation approximation in combating cyber crime. Experts from the Council of Europe and Romania shared their experiences in laying the groundwork for becoming a party to the main convention under the Council of Europe.
• The Office has previously held seminars on combating money laundering and the financing of terrorism, jointly organized with the Ministry of Justice and key partners.
• The Office organized, in November 2008, a seminar "Investments in Belarus: Opportunities and boundaries" for foreign and national experts and members of the business community. With the International Finance Corporation, the Office also organized a workshop on lowering the administrative barriers that hinder business development, tapping on the experience of countries with more modernized economies.
• To foster the development of small-and medium-size enterprises (SMEs), the Office, in addition to specific projects for agro-business development in the regions affected by Chernobyl, has also supported a number of seminars on SME development on standards in eco-tourism as well as capacity-building and networking activities to introduce best practices in this area.

Promotion of a better understanding of the OSCE and regional cross-dimensional comprehensive security in the context of the global economic crisis

• The Office promoted in 2008 and 2009 a cycle of conferences and experts' training with the Faculty of International Relations of the Belarus State University on the theme of challenges to international security.
• The Office is at present developing a programme for 2010 with the Faculty of Sociology and Communication on the theme of sociology, values and communication in times of global economic crisis.