FINAL COMMUNIQUE OF THE CONFERENCE “Civil Society Forum of the EaP: An Agenda for Belarus"

 FINAL COMMUNIQUE OF THE CONFERENCE

“Civil Society Forum of the Eastern Partnership: An Agenda for Belarus”
2 November 2009, Minsk, International Educational Centre 

We, the participants of the conference “Civil Society Forum of the Eastern Partnership: An Agenda for Belarus”, representatives of Belarusian civil society, commending the efforts of the European Commission in engaging civil society in Eastern Partnership Initiative (EaP)

Support the “proposals of Belarusian delegates to participants and organizers of the Forum” aimed at creating a procedural and institutional framework for the effective inclusion of civil society in cooperation among the partner countries and the European Union;

Declare our readiness to provide quality and competent expertise in developing and implementing projects of the Eastern Partnership in all thematic platforms;

Propose that the agenda of the Civil Society Forum of the Eastern Partnership includes the following priority areas of work in each platform:

“Democracy, Good Governance, Stability and Security” Platform

• Promoting the signing of the Agreement on Partnership and Cooperation between the European Union and the Republic of Belarus, subject to institutional changes in Belarus;
• Institutionalizing the mechanism of interaction between the government and civil society through participation of civil society in government-led projects (as part of the EaP), including the establishment of bilateral commissions (the European Union - Republic of Belarus), with civil society assessing and monitoring such projects;
• Promoting publicity and transparency of decisions of high importance to the public in the Republic of Belarus through realization of the right to freedom of expression, public access to information and the development of free media;
• Promoting the signing and subsequent ratification by the Republic of Belarus of the European Charter of Local Self-Government, the development of local self-government in accordance with its principles and norms;
• Creating a favourable legal environment for civil society through the process of approximation to European standards the interaction between state and society;
• Approving the agenda and future work of the Civil Society Forum and other structures and institutions of the Eastern Partnership (including the Parliamentary Assembly Evronest), as well as other EU Institutions.

"Economic Integration and Convergence with Policies of the European Union” Platform

• Increased cooperation between Belarus and the European Union in support of Belarus’ accession to the World Trade Organization;
• Implementation of the peer review of national legal standards for compliance with European Union standards in the field of market economy, including through participation in the implementation of specialized programmes of the European Union to adapt to EU standards;
• Facilitate the accession of Belarus to regional development programmes for small and medium enterprises;
• Promoting the standardization of the labour market and training in Belarus, in accordance with EU norms.

“Environment, Climate Change and Energy Security” Platform

• Ensuring public participation in decision-making on environmental issues (in particular, the construction of nuclear power plants, etc.), in accordance with the Aarhus Convention and Espoo Convention;
• Providing priority support for environmentally friendly and energy saving projects while considering project proposals within the Eastern Partnership;
• Reviving the subject of mitigating the consequences of an accident at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant within the framework of the Eastern Partnership;
• Promoting the ratification of the Belarusian amendment to the Kyoto Protocol.

”Contacts between People” Platform

• Removing infrastructural barriers to the development of contacts between citizens of countries participating in the Eastern Partnership and the European Union, including the simplification of visa regime, the availability of travel grants, support for volunteerism and youth and school exchanges between countries, the spread of modern communication technologies, and development of language and computer literacy in countries participating in the Eastern Partnership;
• Creating mechanisms for the inclusion of Belarus in European educational, scientific and cultural programmes, as well as the elimination of internal barriers to use these opportunities;
• Promoting cultural and educational contacts between the countries of the Eastern Partnership for the formation of a single humanitarian space;

We hereby declare our readiness to coordinate our priorities with the priorities that shall be proposed by delegations of other countries participating in the Civil Society Forum. We are ready to reach the necessary compromises in setting the agenda for the Civil Society Forum.