BAKU, Azerbaijan, November 29. The Environment Directorate of the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) is currently working with Azerbaijan under two EU-funded programs in green economy development, OECD told Trend.
"The EU4Environment Green Economy, funded by the EU, is helping Azerbaijan develop green investment strategies, promote environmental compliance assurance, assess and reinforce administrative capacity, and develop Green Growth Indicators (GGIs). The EU4Environment Water and Data programme, funded by the EU, aims to promote sustainable use of precious water resources and support open access to environmental data. The OECD has been facilitating multi-stakeholder National Policy Dialogues (NPD) on water with Azerbaijan for over 10 years. The dialogues aim to progress water policy reform and bring together a range of public and private actors, recognizing that water is a key resource across all sectors of the economy," said a source at OECD.
OECD said it provided technical assistance to the Ministry of Ecology and Natural Resources of Azerbaijan in preparing a green public expenditure programme designed to help meet the demand for potable and utility water for Azerbaijan’s population, agriculture and industry.
"It focuses on rural districts in selected regions that face significant challenges ensuring a safe domestic drinking water supply, securing water for irrigation and reducing pollution from wastewater. Analysis was done on the status of the capital market as part of work on "Greening debt capital markets in Eastern Partnership countries and the role for green bonds". It helped assess readiness of Azerbaijan to absorb debt capital financing for green investments," said the source.
OECD is preparing a report analysing environmental inspections and other aspects of environmental compliance assurance in Azerbaijan against international good practice and providing recommendations.
"The work is ongoing to review the country’s progress towards reform of public administration responsible for environmental management and green economy and to access progress in establishing mechanisms for inter-agency cooperation on meeting environmental objectives. The report, which is tentatively planned to be released in 2024, will contribute to identifying remaining challenges faced by environmental administration at national, regional and local levels," said the organization.
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