Joint Meeting of the OECD Friends of Eurasia Enlarged Session and GREEN Action Task Force 2025

The GREEN Action Task Force and the OECD Friends of Eurasia were pleased to host the joint meeting, “Integrating Climate Action with Economic Competitiveness in the Eastern Partner Region and Central Asia”, on 4–5 February 2025 at the OECD Conference Centre in Paris.

This joint meeting facilitated discussions and peer-to-peer exchanges between Eurasia and OECD Member countries, focusing on strategies to align the region’s economic development objectives with its climate and environmental goals.

Key topics of discussion included:

• Sustainable infrastructure;
• Decarbonisation of industry;
• Low-carbon and climate-resilient agriculture;
• Greening of small and medium-sized enterprises;
• Management of critical raw materials.

The meeting also explored ways to further strengthen the partnership between Eurasia countries and the OECD.

Session I: Investment Policies and Financing Instruments for Sustainable, Low-Carbon Infrastructure Development

• Policies for Sustainable Infrastructure Development in Eurasia, by Peline Atamer, OECD [ENG/RUS]

Session II: Supporting Green and Sustainable SME Competitiveness

• Green SME Policies in Eurasia, Francesco Alfonso and Krzysztof Michalak, OECD [ENG/RUS]
• Financing Green SMEs, Marija Kuzmanovic, OECD [ENG/RUS]

Session III: Post-Disaster Recoveries: Lessons and Ways Forward

• Approaches to Strengthening the Resilience of Eurasia to Climate and Other External Risks, Takayoshi Kato, OECD [ENG/RUS]
• Ukraine presentation, Olha Yushkevych, Ministry of Environmental Protection and Natural Resources, Ukraine [ENG]
• Lessons learned in Austria from the flood in September 2024, Alexander Zinke, Environment Agency, Austria [ENG]

Session IV: Towards Climate-Resilient, Low-Carbon Agriculture

• Promoting Climate-Resilient, Low-Carbon Agriculture in Eurasia, Matthew Griffiths, OECD [ENG/RUS]

Session V: Sustainable Mining: Critical Raw Materials (CRM) in Eurasia

• Managing the Environmental Impacts of CRM Development, Guy Halpern, OECD [ENG/RUS]
• Natural Resources of Tajikistan, Aziz Nazar, the Ministry of Industry and New Technologies, Tajikistan [ENG]
• Enabling Fiscal Policies for the Development of a Sustainable CRM Sector, Ben Dickinson, OECD [ENG/RUS]

Post-Conference Session 1: Climate Co-operation in Central Asia

• Towards stronger climate and environment co-operation in Central Asia, Takayoshi Kato, OECD [ENG/RUS]

Post-Conference Session 2: Programme of Work under the GREEN Action Task Force

• Upcoming activities and events of the GREEN Action Task Force, Krzysztof Michalak, OECD [ENG]