The Steering Committee video conference of the project “Regulatory Framework to Promote Energy Efficiency in the Countries of Eurasian Economic Union” took place on 12 February 2019.

The project is financed by the Russian Federation and implemented by UNDP in Armenia. The aim of the Armenia-Belarus-Kazakhstan-Kyrgyzstan-Russia video meeting was to present to the Steering Committee members the project results in 2018 and the expected developments as well as vectors of cooperation with partners in 2019.

Opening remarks were made by Hayk Badalyan, Head of Energy Department, Ministry of Energy Infrastructures and Natural Resources.

Dmitry Mariyasin, UNDP Resident Representative in Armenia, emphasized the uniqueness of the project from the perspective of supporting the Eurasian Economic Union countries in achieving UN sustainable development goals. According to him, the program has managed to establish very effective cooperation with experts from four partner countries in a short period of time. He also noted the importance of introducing energy efficiency standards and technologies as one of the factors for improving the effectiveness of small and medium businesses.

Dmitri Stepanov, Representative of the Russian Embassy in Armenia noted that UNDP is a serious partner for Russia, pointing out a number of joint projects implemented in Armenia in energy saving, tourism and other sectors.

Suren Gyurjinyan, Project Task Leader, presented the project achievements in 2018. He informed that draft legal and normative acts, regulating energy-efficient public procurement, were developed during 2018.

In order to protect the market against low-efficiency equipment, the project has started the establishment of lighting appliances energy performance testing laboratories and their equipment.   

With an aim to raise awareness about energy efficiency and develop energy efficient behavior among the population, the Project has initiated a number of activities, including the festival Together Brighter (#ВместеЯрче) to be organized in 2019. The aim of the festival is to equip the schoolchildren with knowledge about energy efficiency and to develop responsible behavior towards energy efficiency.

With the support of the Project, a group of schoolchildren was given an opportunity to participate in the summer school of “Young Power Engineer” in Russia last year. The aim of the School was to raise awareness on energy efficiency and to promote energy-related specializations among schoolchildren.

During the meeting, the representatives the representatives of the beneficiary state bodies of the partner countries presented the developments of the energy efficiency policies in their countries and the support provided by the Project.

The meeting was concluded with a discussion about the activities and expected results in 2019.

The goal of the project “Regulatory Framework to Promote Energy Efficiency in the Countries of Eurasian Economic Union” is the realization of the energy efficiency potential of lighting, household appliances and engineering equipment through the introduction of modern energy efficient regulations and standards.

The program beneficiaries are Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan.