23 March, 2007 - United Nations Development Programme will assist Belarusin establishing an Energy Center which will provide energy saving services to state enterprises.

Minsk hosted today a launching seminar on a joint project of UNDP, Global Environment Facility, United Nations Environmental Commission for Europe and the Department of Energy Efficiency of the State Standardization Committee “Removing Barriers to Energy Efficiency Improvements in the State Sector in Belarus”. The seminar programme included a project presentation and a discussion around the issues of attracting investments for implementation of energy efficiency projects, development of economic incentives, and improving the quality of energy saving services in Belarus’ state sector.

“The energy efficiency project sees its start at a very challenging time for Belarus, with the prices of energy imports rising dramatically since the beginning of 2007 and the Government looking for ways of sustaining economic growth, enhancing energy security and cutting down on the energy bill. In these circumstances, the project appears to be quite opportune, inasmuch as it aims to assist the government in enhancing the efficiency of energy use in the country,” UNDP Resident Representative in Belarus, Ms. Cihan Sultanoglu, noted.

The 4–year project implementation is expected to bring the following results:

• Introduce incentives for energy efficiency investments in state organizations;
• Increase the inflow of internal investments into energy efficiency projects in the state sector;
• Enhance the efficiency of use of financial resources invested by the state sector into energy efficiency projects;
• Increase the share of loan financing, as opposed to grants, in energy efficiency investments;
• Train Belarusian specialists in modern methods of energy audits, business planning, and loan financing;
• Replicate the project results in Belaruswith the assistance of the Energy Center.

The seminar was attended by representatives of the Ministry of Energy, Ministry of Economy, Ministry of Health, Ministry of Education, Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment Protection, Department of Energy Efficiency, UNDP/GEF Regional Center (Bratislava, Slovakia), United Nations Economic Commission for Europe, World Bank, Belinvestbank, Minsk, Grodno, Vitebsk regional executive committees, and other.

For additional information please refer to Project Manager, Sergei Prokazov, at 227–11–84, or UNDP Belarus Communications Associate, Vladislav Khilkevich, at 227–38–17, e–mail: .

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