Thirty years on, the nuclear disaster in Chernobyl still exerts an indelible impact on the lives of people in Belarus, Ukraine and the Russian Federation, but communities and governments have shown unparalleled resolve to chart a more sustainable future, UN Development Programme (UNDP) Administrator Helen Clark said at the opening of the “Chernobyl 30 Years Later” International Conference in Minsk, Belarus.
On April 25, in the secondary school № 130 of Minsk was held the ceremony, devoted to the opening of the memorial plaque to perpetuate Ruth Waller, the Secretary of the United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration (UNRRA) in Belarus.
Ms. Cihan Sultanoglu, Assistant Secretary-General, Assistant Administrator, Director of the Regional Bureau for Europe and the Commonwealth of Independent States, and Mr. Valentin Rybakov, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Belarus, participated in the solemn ceremony of unveiling memorial sign of the Tree of Peace and Sustainable Development.
Ms. Cihan Sultanoğlu, Assistant Secreaty-General, UNDP Assistant Administrator and Director of the Regional Bureau for Europe and the Commonwealth of Independent States, Sanaka Samarasinha, UN Resident Coordinator/UNDP Resident Representative in Belarus, and Ekaterina Paniklova, UNDP Deputy Resident Representative in Belarus, visited Clean&Health Tech Hackathon at Imaguru Business Club Minsk.
On March 31, 2016 30 districts of the Republic of Belarus signed a memorandum of understanding with the United Nations Development Programme under the EU / UNDP project "Support to local development in the Republic of Belarus", which aims to develop local capacity, local government and community initiatives. The work with the 30 pilot areas will be based on the process of active engagement to collaboration between the state, business and local residents.
The first Board meeting of UNDP project “Strengthening Inclusive Local Governance in the Republic of Belarus” took place in Minsk in Academy of Public Administration under the Aegis of the President of Belarus. The Board members approved the first Annual Work Plan of the project.
The MOU sets the general framework of cooperation between UNDP and Development Bank in the sphere of sustainable local development, with a focus on small and medium-sized towns.
The event gathered governmental representatives from the three most affected countries (Belarus, Ukraine and the Russian Federation) by the accident at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant in 1986, as well as representatives of international organizations and foreign states.
The region’s steady progress in human development is being challenged by changing demographics, large migration flows, and environmental degradation. New approaches are required to create work opportunities for present and future generations alike.
Is there a chance for Belarus to join the Europe’s list of melon exporters in the near future? Such perspective started to take shape when during unusually hot summer of 2010 a number of agricultural householdings in the southern regions of Belarus managed to grow an impressive harvest of watermelons and melons.
UNDP started its operations in Belarus in 1992. UNDP’s mandate in Belarus is determined by an Agreement between the Government of Belarus and UNDP signed on 24 September 1992, which requires UNDP “to support and supplement the country’s efforts at solving the most important problems of its economic development and to promote social progress and better standards of life.”
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