Minsk, 25 July 2005 - The successful development of agro-tourism in Belarus requires an improvement of the legal basis, local authorities should be encouraged to prepare projects, and a competitive brand in the given sphere of services must be created. These were the conclusion of the participants at a conference held from July 21-23 in the Zel’vensky district of the Grodno Region.

The conference of the project’s National Consulting Committee was organized at the initiative of the United Nations Development Programme and the Belarus Ministry of Natural Resources and Environmental Protection as part of the UNDP project, “Environmentally Sustainable Development in the “Belovezhskaya Puscha” Belarus-Poland Region: combining protected area management with rural sustainability.”

“The project sees itself as an optimal combination of environmental protection and sustainable resource development, support for the local population, raising economic activity, and strengthening trans-regional cooperation,” remarked Levan Buadze, UNDP Deputy Resident Representative, at the conference’s opening.

Representatives from national and local executive authorities of Belarus and Poland, from the diplomatic corps, members of international and nongovernmental organizations, and representatives of the mass media took part in the work of the conference. In the course of the conference, participants not only listened to and discussed reports about implementing the project, but at the sample multi-profile farm “Veres” and the “Lavrinovichi” estate, familiarized themselves with the capabilities of the agro-tourist industry in Belarus, visited the Cynkovichsky church-fortress and the Zhirovichsky monastery.

“The project is symbolical. It is a business card for upcoming investments in the sphere of agro-eco-tourism from Belarus, from Poland, and from international organizations,” declared Alexander Apatsky, Deputy Minister of Natural Resources and Environmental Protection of the Republic of Belarus.

For information: The project sees itself as the Belarusian component of a trans-border (Belarus-Poland) project of the UNDP to develop an ecologically sustainable in the region of Belovezhskaya Puscha. Its basic goal (that of the Belarusian component) is the formation of a legislative and economic base, as well as raising society’s awareness in order to develop ecologically compatible alternatives of sustainable initiatives in the region of Belovezhskaya Puscha in Belarus, based on trans-border experience and in support of agro-tourism.

For additional information, please contact the Manager of the UNDP project “Environmentally Sustainable Development in the “Belovezhskaya Puscha” Belarus-Poland Region: combining protected area management with rural sustainability” Dmitry Frishchin at telephone number 203-59-75.

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