The Chernobyl Investment Platform will be created in Belarus

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:

• Partnerships and investments by private sector institutions, the banking sector, chambers of commerce, international organizations and academic partners to comprehensively assess feasibility studies, provide advisory services, improve business performance and support local business initiatives.
• Integration of investment information on a single web resource with data on regions and resources, entrepreneurial activities, project and investor profiles, relevant scientific ideas and findings. The web resource will allow projects in areas such as the green economy, agriculture and food processing, medical rehabilitation, and others to be submitted, presented, and compared.
• Capacity building in project development and management through participation of organizations from regions recovering from the Chernobyl accident in the development of the Chernobyl Investment Platform and holding online and offline educational programs and contests of innovative ideas for entrepreneurs, both beginners and experienced.

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.