UNUnited Nations Economic Commission for Europe

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United Nations Economic Commission for Europe to hold
its first Forum on Sustainable Development next week

Geneva, 15-16 January 2004
Palais des Nations, Conference Room XIX


Geneva, 9 January 2004 - The United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE) is to hold its first Regional Implementation Forum on Sustainable Development on Thursday, 15 January, and Friday, 16 January.

The UNECE Forum on Sustainable Development will focus on the three themes that will come up at the 12th session of the Commission on Sustainable Development in New York in April 2004: water, sanitation and human settlements. The UNECE Environment and Human Settlements Division has much experience in water, sanitation and human settlements, and UNECE is therefore ideally placed to host a discussion on these three subjects.

The Forum will be opened by Mrs Brigita Schmögnerová, UNECE Executive Secretary.

  • Mrs Margaret Beckett (United Kingdom), Secretary of State for the Environment, will chair the Forum.
  • Mr Børge Brende (Norway), Environment Minister and Chairman of the Commission on Sustainable Development, will deliver the keynote address.

There will be round tables on each of the three subjects. Each round table will be followed by a general discussion:

  • Mrs Elena Szolgayova (Slovakia), Senior Adviser at the Ministry of Construction and Regional Development, will chair the round table on human settlements on Thursday morning.
  • Mr Philippe Roch (Switzerland), State Secretary for the Environment, will chair the round table on water on Thursday afternoon.
  • Mr Huseyn Bagirov (Azerbaijan), Environment Minister, will chair the round table on sanitation on Friday morning.

The panellists taking part in these round tables will be both government representatives from UNECE member States in Europe, the Caucasus, Central Asia and North America with a particular interest in water, sanitation and human settlements, and NGO representatives.

Since the World Summit on Sustainable Development, the UN regional commissions have played a bigger role in putting sustainable development into practice. The Commission on Sustainable Development is also keen to receive input from the UN regional commissions to help it take stock of the progress made in meeting the sustainable development goals set in Johannesburg in 2002 and identify any problems that may be hampering this progress. The hope is that this dialogue between the UN regional commissions and the Commission on Sustainable Development will revitalise the process.

The background documents for the Forum are available on the UNECE web site: http://www.unece.org (click on Regional Implementation Forum).


For more information about the Forum, please contact:

Mary Pat Silveira
UNECE Environment and Human Settlements Division
Palais des Nations, office 338
CH - 1211 Geneva 10, Switzerland

Phone: +41 (0) 22 917 13 15
Fax: +41 (0) 22 907 01 07
E-mail: [email protected]
Web site: http://www.unece.org

Ref: ECE/ENV/04/P01