The UN COP29 Climate Conference is an opportunity for Ukraine to deepen existing partnerships in the field of environmental protection, establish new ties, and find new allies

Austria, Romania, Lithuania, Moldova, the United States, and Japan are not an exhaustive list of partner countries with whom environmental security issues were discussed on the sidelines of the UN Climate Conference. This was reported by Svitlana Grinchuk, Minister of Environmental Protection and Natural Resources of Ukraine, on her Facebook page.

The Minister discussed with her partners the impact of the war on the environment, Ukraine’s green recovery, European integration, cross-border projects and reforms.

During a working meeting with the Federal Minister for Climate Affairs of the Republic of Austria, Leonora Gewessler, the two sides updated the developments under the Memorandum of Understanding between the ministries, as well as the prospects for the development of environmental control in Ukraine.

With Romanian Minister of Environment Mircea Feket, we discussed our European integration commitments under the Espoo Convention, as well as measures to achieve good water quality in the Danube, a common waterway.

With the Minister of Environment of Lithuania Simonas Gentvilas, we exchanged views on European integration and the experience of our countries in this process. We also discussed the reform of the forestry sector and the nature reserve fund.

Together with the ministers and other representatives of the participating countries, Svitlana Grinchuk also took part in a meeting of the umbrella group to coordinate the COP29 agenda. The group includes the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Norway, Japan, Iceland, New Zealand, and Australia. On the sidelines of the meeting, the Minister held short meetings, in particular with New Zealand Minister of the Environment Nick Smith and Japanese Minister of the Environment Keiichiro Asao.

We are grateful to all friends of our country who are interested in joint projects and continue to support Ukraine.