OSCE Minsk Office helps organize seminar on Kyoto Protocol implementation

MINSK, 21 February 2007 - Implementing joint projects within the framework of the Kyoto Protocol is the focus of a two-day seminar organized by the OSCE Office in Minsk and the Ministry of Environment that began in Minsk today.

"We welcome the active participation of Belarus in global policy decisions aimed at curbing the degradation of the environment," said Ambassador Ake Peterson, the Head of the OSCE Office. "I would like to encourage civil society, academics and regional institutions in Belarus to be more involved in implementing the different projects."

The Kyoto Protocol to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change is an amendment to the international treaty on climate change, which assigns mandatory targets for the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions to signatory nations. The Kyoto Protocol now covers more than 160 countries globally.

Successful negotiations held by Belarus and other parties to the Protocol in Nairobi in November 2006 were in part due to technical assistance provided by the OSCE Office.

Ambassador Peterson added that the OSCE Office stands ready to further assist the Government of Belarus in reaching the capacity to fully implement the Protocol, especially through joint projects with foreign partners.

The OSCE Office in Minsk will also work closely with Belarus and European experts to help design policies aimed at promoting alternative and renewable energy.

The Ministry of Environment was represented at the seminar by First Deputy Minister Alexandre Apatsky.