Conclusions
and recommendation of the conference
The Regional
Environmental Center for Central and Eastern Europe, Country Office
Hungary organized the Implementation of Sustainable Development in Central
Europe Conference by the support of the International Visegrad Fund.
The overarching
goal of the conference was the comparison of the problems and opportunities
of sustainable development (SD) implementation in Visegrad countries
and in Austria and Finland, sharing these experiences with other accession
countries. The V4 country delegates (Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland,
and Slovakia) presented their national SD strategy development and the
present stage of the SD implementation.
Based
on the presentations and discussions, the following conclusions have
been formulated:
| 1. |
The
stage of the SD Strategy and its implementation in the V4 countries
are diverse. The political will, the institutional frame, the coordination
of the national commission on SD, the broad participation of the
different stakeholders in the society and the awareness raising
are important factors of the success. |
| 2. |
There
are countries, where the preparation of the National Development
Plan (NDP) (2007-2013) and the Sustainable Development Strategy
are going in parallel, coordinated by the National Development Office.
It is a challenging and promising process. |
| 3. |
Some
EU countries, like Austria and Finland have more in depth experiences
in SD Strategy planning and evaluation integrating the EU SDS (Goteborg)
priorities. Learning from these experiences is very rewarding for
the V4 countries. |
| 4. |
Special
attention was paid to the flowing topics: |
(i)
Visioning the future development in Central Europe: focusing on the
new and future EU Member States;
(ii) Indicators for planning and evaluation of sustainable development;
(iii)Institutional frame for sustainable development implementation
at the national and international level.
The common problems and future opportunities on SD planning and implementation
were identified.
| 5. |
V4
countries, Austria and Finland presented their views on the Goteborg
and Lisbon Strategy. The country views are diverse, further possibilities
for discussion of the review process and interrelations of these
strategies would be very useful. |
| 6. |
It
seems useful to continue the exchange of information and national
experiences on planning and implementation of sustainable development
strategies and development plans for the forthcoming period with
special attention to the integration of principles of sustainable
development into the development and various sectoral plans. |
| 7. |
By
taking into account the proposal of the participants of this meeting,
the REC is going to organise a follow-up event in November 2005
to continue the debate and exchange of views on all the above mentioned
issues. |
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