site.btaMinister Vassileva Participates in Informal Meeting of EU Environment Ministers

Minister Vassileva Participates in Informal Meeting of  EU Environment Ministers

Sofia/Luxembourg, July 22 (BTA) - Bulgarian Environment and Water Minister Ivelina Vassileva is taking part in an informal meeting of EU environment ministers in Luxembourg on July 22 and 23, Vassileva's ministry said in a press release Wednesday.

A key topic on the meeting's agenda are climate change negotiations ahead of the COP21 conference of the parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change in Paris this December. The ministers will debate on concrete measures and financing instruments to support climate action, including the attraction of investments from the private sector.

The Environment and Water Ministry's press release reads that Bulgaria supports the EU's goals and effective efforts on the adaption to and mitigation of climate change in developing countries. "We believe that, in order to achieve actual results in this direction, the efforts should be directed not only at the EU or a specific group of countries, but at the achievement of results on a world scale. At the same time, we underscore that thus far, given the economic situation, Bulgaria does not have resources to be directly used in the process of funding activities for the mitigation of climate change in other countries. We believe that the main funding should be provided by the international financial institutions and the private sector, which requires the creation of additional incentives," the press release reads.

Bulgaria is of the opinion that the EU's and the Member States' priorities in the environmental sphere are well reflected in the Sustainable Development Goals. "We believe that the implementation of the Post-2015 Development Programme requires its targets and tasks to be integrated in the strategic documents of the EU and the Member Statesр while also taking into view their national specifics," the Environment Ministry said.