OSCE supports platform for promoting best practices and innovations for a green economy in Kazakhstan

ASTANA, 12 July 2017 – An OSCE-supported international forum on the Green Bridge Partnership Programme (GBPP),  a  platform for promoting best practices and innovations for a green economy, started today in Astana.

The two-day event is organized by the Energy Ministry with support of the OSCE Programme Office and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in Kazakhstan for some 100 international and national experts from the state and non-governmental organizations. The forum addressed the opportunities and challenges associated with the implementation of the Paris Climate Agreement and the mobilization of “green” finance. The morning session concluded with the signing ceremony of a Memorandum of Understanding between the Austrian Institute of Technologies (AIT) and the Energy Ministry aimed to foster co-operation in the area of developing "green" standards and providing training to the national and regional authorities on energy efficiency, energy saving and green construction.

Kanat Bozumbayev, Energy Minister of Kazakhstan, said: “I am confident that the Green Bridge Partnership Programme and the Centre for Green Technologies will contribute to the sustainable development of the Central Asian region through the support of green technologies.”

“We perceive the GBPP not only as an efficient tool to promote green economic growth but also as a means of contributing to energy security in the Central Asian region,” noted Diana Digol, Deputy Head of the OSCE Programme Office in Astana. “We are confident that Kazakhstan’s co-operation with the Austrian Institute of Technologies will further strengthen its national strategy of moving to a green economy.

The GBPP is an international initiative that was developed by the Government of Kazakhstan with the backing of the OSCE Office in Astana in 2010 and signed by the representatives of 15 countries. It aims to building global partnerships for promoting greener economies and green growth.

The event is part of the OSCE Programme Office’s long-term efforts to assist the host country in promoting renewable energy and green growth policies.