On 11 – 15 March 2019, the
63rd session of the Committee on compliance with the Convention on Access to
Information, Public Participation in Decision-making and Access to Justice in
environmental matters (the Aarhus Convention) took place in Geneva.
Belarus was represented by the
delegation of the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environmental Protection headed
by Ms. Yekaterina Kuznetsova, Head of the Department for Environmental Policy, International
Cooperation and Science.
The session addressed issues on
compliance with the international obligations under the Convention by its
parties, including Belarus. The Committee finalized its draft revised
Guidelines, and considered organizational issues to improve the effectiveness
of its work.
The Belarusian delegation provided
its comments to the First progress review of the implementation of decision
VI/8c on compliance by Belarus with its obligations under the Convention, which
was prepared by the Secretariat.
Ms. Yekaterina Kuznetsova also informed the Compliance Committee on the
activities for 2019 to implement the provisions of the Convention and expressed
readiness to submit the Second report on the implementation of decision VI/8c
in October 2019.
At the request from Belarusian
delegation, the Committee confirmed its availability to provide Belarus expertise
and technical assistance with the aim to implement provisions of the
Convention.
