The EU-funded “Covenant of Mayors – Demonstration Projects” programme and “Covenant of Mayors East” will organise a regional conference for the municipalities of the Eastern Partnership Countries – Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, the Republic of Moldova and Ukraine – on 13-14 December in Minsk, Belarus.
The main focus of the event will be the presentation of the results and achievements of cities and villages that are part of the EU-supported Covenant of Mayors East initiative, as well as new funding opportunities for energy efficiency projects. It is expected that 15 Belarusian cities will join the initiative during the event.
The event will bring together about 150 participants, including representatives of the European Commission, decision makers, civil society organisations, international financial institutions and mayors from the Eastern Partner countries.
The Covenant of Mayors East is a flagship EU initiative to reduce CO2 emissions by at least 20% by 2020. It helps municipalities to prepare and implement Sustainable Energy Action Plans, reducing dependency on fossil fuels, improving the security of energy supply, and allowing them to contribute more actively to climate change mitigation.
Covenant of Mayors – Demonstration Projects (CoM-DeP) is a European Union programme in the Eastern Partner countries which supports small towns that have signed up to the Covenant of Mayors initiative to implement energy efficiency projects identified within their Sustainable Energy Action Plans (SEAPs), with grants as well as technical assistance. The support team of the CoM-DeP provides grants to 19 selected projects, as well as technical, procedural and communication assistance.
