News and Events
Second Meeting of Rio Conventions Project Advisory Board11.11.2009
The 2nd meeting of Rio Conventions Project Advisory Board took place on 11 November 2009 at Best Western Coty Hotel in Sofia. The project Advisory Board meets annually and presents a platform for discussing project progress with a wide range of stakeholders: state institutions, district governments and municipalities, academic and non-governmental organizations, the private sector and media.
The second Advisory Board meeting gathered more than 50 participants from the above mentioned stakeholder groups. Main issues discussed during the event included: project progress in 2009 and planned activities for 2010; presentation of new Masters course for training on integration of global environmental objectives into the policy of regional development and spatial planning in Bulgaria, developed with the support of the Rio Conventions Project in cooperation between the Sofia university “St. Kliment Ohridski” and the Central - European University in Budapest, Hungary; presentation of strategic indicators for monitoring and evaluation of global environmental issues into the regional development policy and spatial planning documents, developed under the Rio Conventions project; Presentation of cross-regional partnerships for capacity building in the aria of climate changes mitigation and adaptation, implemented with the support of the Rio Conventions Project – Regions for Sustainable Change project – implemented by GD RPMS in the MRDPW under the Interreg IVC programme.
During the discussion, that followed the meeting, the Advisory Board members expressed their satisfaction with the project progress. The stakeholders also made some specific recommendations regarding further implementation of the project and adoption of the achieved results, such as:
- exploration of possibilities for including more strategic indicators for monitoring and evaluation of MRDPW to the seven indicators, already selected and agreed;
- cooperation with other academic and state institutions in Bulgaria and EU for further advertisement of new Masters course, development and implementation of additional modules (such as RES and energy efficiency) and exchange of lecturers and experts for strengthening the practical aspects of the course;
- participation of the Sofia University in thematic academic networks at European level and presentation of modules of the Masters course in other academies in Europe;
- dissemination of the good practices in the field of integration of global environmental issues into the work of the directorates and structures of MRDPW and other departments and administrations.
Information about the First Advisory Board Meeting
Additional Information
- Speech by Mrs. Lene Jespersen – Resident Representative a.i., UNDP
- Speech by Mrs. Ekaterina Zaharieva – Deputy Minister, MRDPW (only in Bulgarian)
- Presentation on the Project Progress in 2009 and Planned Activities for 2010, Mrs. Natalia Dimitrova-Popova – Project Manager
- Presentation of New Masters Course for Training on Integration of Global Environmental Objectives into the Policy of Regional Development and Spatial Planning in Bulgaria – Mr. Stelian Dimitrov, SU “St. Kliment Ohridski”
- Presentation of Strategic Indicators for Monitoring and Evaluation of Global Environmental Issues into the Regional Development Policy and Spatial Planning Documents – Mrs. Maria Novakova and Mr. Teodor Todorov, Project Consultants
- Presentation of Cross-regional Partnerships in the Aria of Climate Changes and RES, Implemented by GD RPMS in the MRDPW under the Interreg IVC Programme – Ms. Margarita Atanasova, MD RPMS, MRDPW
