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CEI participation in OSCE Meeting on environmental impact of energy-related activities

On 11-13 September 2013, Ukrainian Foreign Minister, OSCE Chairperson-in-Office, Leonid Kozhara opened a three-day OSCE Conference in Prague  - the 21st OSCE Economic and Environmental Forum -  gathering representatives of the 57 OSCE participating States, international and non-governmental Organizations as well as experts to discuss how the OSCE can contribute to energy sustainability and prevent adverse environmental impacts of energy-related activities. Participants to the Forum paid particular attention to sustainable energy and promoting good governance in the energy sector, and looked at diversified opportunities that renewable energy resources offered. The Forum also reviewed OSCE commitments in the energy field and discussed how the OSCE could support participating States’ in this context.   The Ukrainian Foreign Minister called upon the Conference participants to promote sustainable production, transportation and consumption of energy in their own countries. He said: “We should try to focus on the interrelated challenges of climate change, effective management of natural resources and energy efficiency”. He also highlighted the OSCE’s essential role as a “unique platform for broad dialogue and co-operation among equal partners”.   Jan Kohout, Czech Foreign Minister stressed that his country promoted a clearer link to security in all activities of the OSCE in the economic and environmental field, as well as the role of these activities as confidence-building measures. OSCE Secretary General, Amb. Lamberto Zannier, stressed that energy and environmental issues posed an ever growing challenge, and that all stakeholders, including the civil society, had a meaningful role to play. He added that “The promotion of transparency, accountability and good governance in the field of environmental and energy-related activities throughout the whole OSCE region should continue to have priority in OSCE’s agenda”. During his recent visit to the Headquarters of the Central European Initiative in Trieste, he agreed with CEI Secretary General Amb. Giovanni Caracciolo di Vietri on a more intense cooperation between two Organizations, starting with the field of eco-friendly renewable energy.   In this context, the Special Advisor to CEI Secretary General, Mr. Giorgio Rosso Cicogna, made a presentation in Prague, on “Advanced Biofuels and the Development of a Biobased Economy”, indicating how a massive development of this new eco-friendly renewable energy source could pave the way for a new industrial revolution in Europe, specifically in view of the qualitative dimension of the changes involved.  

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