Expert: Belarus becoming participant in UN global dialogue on future of humanity
On September 22nd-23rd, the Summit of the Future will be held in New York under the auspices of the UN General Assembly. This will be a global dialogue about the future of humanity, because today countries and peoples have moved away from each other. The forum is one of the key international events of the year, and it is preceded by Days of Practical Action, when representatives of governments, civil society, the private sector, academia, local and regional authorities, and youth activists discuss the main topics of the event. Expert Piotr Petrovsky told sb.by more about the initiative.
“The UN rostrum is also intended to be a tool for finding a way out of the tragedy that is developing in Ukraine today. Minsk has called for and is proposing concrete steps to prevent conflict and achieve peace in Ukraine. However, Western countries are, sadly, not ready for dialogue. The party of war and escalation dominates there, and issues are being discussed not to prevent a fire, but to expand the use of Western weapons, which could provoke a nuclear conflict. Therefore, the upcoming UN summit is considered by the Belarusian side as an opportunity to convey the position of supporters of peace, multipolarity, diversity and a just world order,” Mr. Petrovsky noted.
“It should be also emphasised that Belarus, despite the geopolitical aggravation around our borders, purposefully and consistently implements the Sustainable Development Goals adopted by the United Nations. The republic now ranks thirtieth in terms of SDG implementation among the 167 countries under consideration. By many indicators, Belarus is in the lead. Its stratification of society is among the lowest ones, and there is no drastic inequality. Belarus is one of the leading countries in terms of accessibility and quality of healthcare and education. It is industrialising and modernising the economy. Many other goals can be listed here, but the fact remains. Belarus is considered one of the few disciplined performers of the SDGs," the expert concluded.
sb.by reference
Belarus is gradually implementing the SDG programmes. The 2023-2030 long-term plan for the development of state and interstate standards for the implementation of Sustainable Development Goals provides for 208 standards, 80 of which relate to environmental protection, water quality and recycling of secondary raw materials. Taking into account the development of the green economy in Belarus, a comprehensive programme for the development of electric transport for 2021-2025 is being implemented in the republic. It covers the aspects of standardisation, conformity assessment and regulatory support for the development of electric transport, including its components and infrastructure.
To implement the action plan for a phased reduction in the use of polymer packaging with its replacement by environmentally friendly packaging, 41 new standards have been developed and put into effect based on international and regional standards in the field of requirements for environmentally friendly packaging and its testing methods. Seven more standards are planned for development in 2024-2025.
In addition, the national action plan for the development of the green economy for 2021-2025 is being implemented in Belarus at present, and the ISO 42500-2023 Sharing Economy. General Principles has been developed as part of it. The terminology and general principles of the sharing economy are established by the document.
