Friday, 18 July 2008
The National Sustainable Development Council of the Republic of Armenia (NSDC) met at the Office of Government, presided over by council chairman, RA Prime Minister Tigran Sargsyan. The council sitting was attended by 4 ministers, several MPs, the RA NAS President, representatives of a number of civil-society organizations dealing with environmental questions. This sitting came in the wake of a July 2 consultative meeting hosted by the RA Prime Minister and attended by several NGOs as devoted to sustainable development-related issues, at which the Prime Minister promised to give a boost to council activities by calling meetings on a regular basis with their agenda to be established by way of consultations.
To start with, Tigran Sargsyan said the council composition and its activity needed updating in order to provide a momentum to the process of sustainable development. The Prime Minister expressed appreciation of the council
's contribution both in terms of shaping State approaches to the concept of sustainable development and inculcating a new culture of effective cooperation with environmental civil-society organizations concerning this issue of utmost importance. The Prime Minister further said that the meeting agenda had been agreed upon following discussions held with the NGOs, as promised.Proceeding to the agenda, those present discussed the work done so far under a sustainable development framework, the international experience available in this field and Armenia
's adherence to these processes, the enlarged composition of the council, its structure and draft statute provisions. Also, there have been discussed organizational matters relating to the future work of the NSDC. The Prime Minister stated his vision of NSDC statutory tasks and functions which were accepted by those present.The meeting participants agreed in that the next sitting should examine the question of urban waste disposal, as well as some sustainable development issues concerning Yerevan city. The council was told to formulate and submit to the Ministry of Nature Protection proposals concerning the next sitting
's agenda and future action within a week's time. The Prime Minister further suggested that NGO representatives should present the council with their findings on the legislative gaps existing in this area. In an effort to systemize the huge amount of information available on all completed and ongoing actions under the concept of sustainable development, it has been decided to take stock of relevant programs and present them to the NSDC.By the end of the meeting, reiterating the government
's willingness to activate endeavors under the sustainable development process, Tigran Sargsyan asked the NGO representatives to redouble their efforts aimed at ensuring greater effectiveness through interested joint action.
