Under the auspices of the National Coordinator for achieving Sustainable Development Goals Isachenko A.M., an off-site workshop “Investment opportunities for the development of territories affected by radioactive contamination as a result of the Chernobyl NPP catastrophe” was held in Kostyukovichi on March 26, 2021. During the workshop the participants discussed the issues of sustainable development in the Mogilev region. The concept of the Chernobyl Investment Platform was also presented. The event was attended by representatives of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, UNDP, local authorities, businesses, scientific institutions, and public organizations.
In their speeches the participants noted the serious impact of the Chernobyl accident on Belarus and shared the experience of specific activities undertaken in the Mogilev Region to overcome the consequences of the accident and to ensure sustainable development at the local level. The region together with the UN agencies actively implements projects in such areas as economy, ecology and basic services. One of such projects will be the Chernobyl Investment Platform. The Chernobyl Investment Platform will create conditions for generating and summarizing lessons learned, existing and innovative solutions, technologies, management methods and financing to revive the affected areas and leave no one behind in the development opportunities. Thus, the platform will make a significant contribution to the localization of the Sustainable Development Goals and will aim to reduce disparities in regional development in Belarus.
The Chernobyl Investment Platform is based on three key elements:
At the initial stage, the Chernobyl Investment Platform will contain investment proposals based on the results of previously implemented UNDP projects, developments of the National Academy of Sciences of Belarus, developments of local technology parks and business initiatives.
Thus, the Chernobyl Investment Platform will become an additional mechanism for implementing a comprehensive support program for the population of the regions recovering from the Chernobyl accident, further enhancing their capacity and sustainability, as well as for developing solutions for socio-economic development in partnership with the public and private sectors, national and international partners.
Information on presentations from the event will be published in the Events section.
The CIS Youth Group is an initiative created to give young people from the CIS region the opportunity to discuss prospects and challenges in the development of information and communication technologies. The first meeting of the group was held in the online format, and working sessions will be held during March. There were 12 representatives from the Republic of Belarus among the 36 participants.
As a result, the participants of the Youth Group will share with the members of the International Telecommunication Union their vision of the perspectives of digital transformation in the context of the upcoming World Telecommunication Development Conference 2021 (WTDC 21). They will also develop a collective paper that will be presented at the Regional Preparatory Meeting for the CIS region, to be held April 21-22, 2021.
After that, the group will continue its work by contributing to the organization of the WTDC-21 Youth Summit, scheduled for November 6-7, 2021, leading up to WTDC-21 itself. A detailed work plan for the group can be found on the International Telecommunications Union website.
Photo: itu.int
The State program “Small and medium-sized business” for 2021-2025 was approved by the Council of Ministers Decree № 56 of January 29, 2021. The purpose of the State program is to form a favorable environment for the development of small and medium-sized businesses, taking into account their needs.
The state program will be aimed at stimulating business initiative, improving business environment for growth of entrepreneurial activity and stimulating the creation of highly productive, export-oriented and innovative organizations.
Among the planned activities of the program are the creation of an ombudsman institution to protect the rights of entrepreneurs, improvement of tax legislation, support for small and medium-sized businesses and startup movement and others. The state program will promote the country’s economic well-being and help achieve Sustainable Development Goals 8 “Decent Work and Economic Growth”, 9 “Industrialization, Innovation and Infrastructure” and others. You can find the program on the National Legal Portal.
The Ministry of Communications and Informatization of the Republic of Belarus, in partnership with the Minsk City Executive Committee, started implementing the project for creating the regional state model digital platform “Smart City (Region)”. The goal of the project is to build a modern regional management system as the basis for carrying out activities aimed at comprehensive digital transformation of the economy and social sphere.
Regional state model digital platform “Smart City (Region)” will be adapted and implemented primarily in regional centers and eleven cities (districts) with a population over 80 thousand people, which have been identified as potential centers of economic growth: Orsha, Baranovichi, Pinsk, Novopolotsk, Polotsk, Mozyr, Lida, Borisov, Soligorsk, Molodechno and Bobruisk. The project also provides for the creation of a national geoportal, the development of regional information and communication infrastructure, the creation and development of standard services in various areas of life in cities with their subsequent scaling. The development of smart cities makes a significant contribution to achieving Sustainable Development Goal 11 “Sustainable Cities and Human Settlements” and other SDGs.
World Consumer Protection Day on March 15, 2021 was held under the theme “Combating Plastic Pollution”. This theme draws attention to the importance of SDG 12, Responsible Consumption and Production.
The responsible consumers’ approach to the use, disposal and preparation for recycling of plastic materials aims to preserve natural resources and a favorable environmental situation around the world for everyone.
In Belarus, the requirements of Article 11 of the Law of the Republic of Belarus “On Protection of Consumer Rights” enshrine the right of consumers to ensure that the goods during their use, storage, transportation and disposal are safe not only for life, health and property of consumers, but also for the environment.
In 2020, the Council of Ministers of the Republic of Belarus approved a plan of measures to gradually reduce the use of plastic packaging. In accordance with Decree No. 797 of the Council of Ministers of the Republic of Belarus of November 27, 2019, the use and sale of disposable plastic tableware in catering establishments is prohibited as of January 1, 2021. This measure reduces the amount of waste from disposable plastic items. At the same time, it is important to not just ban disposable goods, but also to support practices, services and private initiatives that prevent plastic waste: for example, the introduction of recyclable containers, deposits and encouraging people to use their own dishes and packaging, as well as raising consumer awareness about sustainable approaches in the purchase and use of goods, reusable packaging, extending the life of goods, rethinking consumption patterns.
The State Program “Digital Development of Belarus” for 2021-2025 was approved by Resolution No. 66 of the Council of Ministers of the Republic of Belarus on February 2, 2021. The goal of the program is to introduce information and communication and advanced production technologies in the sectors of the national economy and spheres of society.
The state program consists of the following subprograms: Information and analytical, organizational and technical support of digital development, Infrastructure for digital development, Digital development of public administration, Digital development of economic sectors, Regional digital development, Information security and “digital trust”. Among the planned activities are the following: developing an educational platform to improve the digital literacy of the population, creating state digital platforms, the provision of technological solutions such as “smart home”, “smart city” and others. The implementation of the State Program will contribute to the development of all spheres of the economy and the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals. You can find the program on the website of the Ministry of Communications and Informatization of the Republic of Belarus at the link.
In 2016, the Republic of Belarus ratified the Paris Agreement on Climate Change and made a commitment to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 28% by 2030 compared to 1990 levels.
These commitments have been fulfilled ahead of schedule: in 2018, the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions was 33% compared to 1990.
In this regard, the Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC) team of experts developed and presented possible scenarios to set a more ambitious greenhouse gas reduction target for the Republic of Belarus by 2030. At the working meeting, representatives of EU, UNDP, Ministry of Environment, other ministries and subordinate organizations, public associations, scientific community, international and national NOV experts discussed technical and economic planning perspectives in each of the scenarios for reducing CO2 emissions.
Reducing greenhouse gas emissions is a prerequisite for achieving Sustainable Development Goal 13: Combat Climate Change.
On March 17, 2021, National Coordinator on achieving Sustainable Development Goals A.M. Isachanka took part in the high-level segment of the UNECE Regional Forum on Sustainable Development, which was held by videoconference.
In his speech, the National Coordinator of Belarus confirmed the commitment of the Republic of Belarus to the effective and timely implementation of the Agenda-2030 and noted that Belarus has been consistently moving towards sustainable development, involving all segments of the population, with civil society, business, in close cooperation with regional and international partners. A.M. Isachanka stressed that in the field of sustainable development Belarus would further focus on such priorities as strong regions, a partner state, an intelligent country, a happy family, which had been developed during the Sixth All-Belarusian People’s Assembly in February of this year. The National Coordinator of Belarus called on the international community to get rid of national isolation and restrictive measures, which became the norm in the coronavirus era, to improve national economies, to strengthen human capacity, to equitable access to vaccines against COVID-19.
A.M. Isachanka proposed to hold events on the margins of the UNECE Regional Forum in the future with the participation of national SDG coordinators to exchange experiences.
The State program “Health of the Nation and Demographic Security” for 2021-2025 was approved by the Decision of the Council of Ministers No. 28 of January 19, 2021. Its goal is to create conditions to improve the health of the population, covering all stages of life, improving the quality and accessibility of health services. The state program will contribute to the achievement of national security indicators in the field of health and demographic security, as well as the Sustainable Development Goals at the national level (SDG 3 “Good Health”).
According to the State Program, the priorities in the area of health and demographic security until 2025 will be as follows:
Among the planned activities of the program are the development of the “Parent-Friendly Company” concept, development of the “Healthy Cities and Villages” national network, improvement of the medical genetic service and others. You can read about the program on the National Legal Portal.
The world cafe “Youth perspective on promoting the Sustainable Development Goals: 2021” was held at the Minsk State Linguistic University. The event was organized at the initiative of the SDG Youth Ambassadors, Minsk State Linguistic University and the Public Republican Student Council. SDG Youth Ambassadors are active student youth who promote the Sustainable Development Goals in the Republic of Belarus. Each of the ambassadors represents one of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals.
The World Café was hosted by Youth Ambassadors Nikita Rachilovsky (BSPU student, Goal No. 4 “Quality Education”) and Stefania-Vitaliya Vinnichek (BSU student, Goal No. 16 “Peace, Justice and Effective Institutions”). The purpose of the event was to discuss current problems in achieving the Sustainable Development Goals and put forward new ideas for solving them from the point of view of modern students and future teachers.
In working groups, the meeting participants developed projects in the areas of Education, Ecology, Healthcare and Gender Equality. The teams successfully completed their tasks, and the participants voiced ideas, views, and initiatives that will help achieve the Sustainable Development Goals.
Photo: mslu.by
SITE MAP
