Ministers and government representatives from Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo*, the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Montenegro and Serbia have discussed the upcoming UNEA-2 meeting with UNEP Regional Representative Jan Dusik.

Mr. Branimir Gvozdenović, Minister of Sustainable Development and Tourism of Montenegro, organised a working dinner together with Mr Dusik on 31 March to foster an exchange of views and form a common approach among South East European leaders.

There, ministers and their delegations heard more on the resolutions that should be adopted at the next session of the Assembly, which will reinforce environmental governance at all levels.

“Regional and sub-regional ministerial environment cooperation plays a critical role in consensus-building and decision making with regard to the environmental dimension of sustainable development,” noted Mr Dusik.

Draft UNEA resolutions currently under negotiation already give a clear signal of the political will for concrete steps in areas such as the sound management of chemicals, increased protection of the oceans and fast progress on implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals, among others.

UNEP has for nearly a decade been working with governments and other partners in South Eastern Europe on a wide range of environmental matters, including strengthening environmental governance and supporting the mainstreaming of countries there into various international processes.

*References to Kosovo shall be understood in the context of UN Resolution 1244 (1999)

For more information please write to isabelle.valentiny@unep.org