EU-funded project brings Eastern Partnership Countries, Latvia and European Commission together at Climate Change Meeting in Riga [PRESS RELEASE]

Riga, 27 June 2015 – The EU-funded Clima East project, which supports support the Eastern Partnership countries to be better prepared to deal with climate change impacts, organised a meeting to discuss ongoing United Nations negotiations on Climate Change.

The two-day meeting was attended by representatives of the ministries dealing with Climate Change from the six Eastern Partnership countries as well as the officials from the Ministry of Environmental Protection and Regional Development of Latvia and the European Commission’s Directorate General for Climate Action.

The participants discussed progress towards a possible legally binding and universal agreement on climate to be negotiated at the 2015 United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP 21) in Paris later this year.  They also discussed each country’s national priorities and contributions to reducing emissions and adapting to climate change impacts.

The meeting provided the opportunity for officials to share best practices and to discuss what funding and support was needed to fulfil each country’s objectives.

Speaking after the event, Mr Dragos Cimpoies, Deputy Minister, Ministry of Environment of the Republic of Moldova stated.

“It was a wonderful workshop: a lot of exchanges of opinions between all the participants here, good opportunities to meet new contacts, both Clima East team members and EU institutions staff, for future collaboration.”

Mr Grigol Lazriev, Head of Climate Change Department of the Ministry of Environment and Nature Protection of the Republic of Georgia, UNFCC Focal Point commented:.

“I think this meeting was really useful to us. Many issues were clarified, for example regarding the mitigation component of INDC we discussed during the organised breakout session: what kind of penalties can be introduced, how to monitor our INDCs, to what extent is it possible to make changes to this document after ratification – many interesting issues were discussed.”

Zsolt Lengyel, Team Leader of the EU-funded Clima East project said:

“While all of the Eastern Partnership countries have begun to address climate change challenges by developing national strategies for climate change mitigation and adaptation, meetings such as this allow us to look for a common approach as well as to share best practices from both inside and outside the European Union. It is essential as countries prepare for the upcoming Paris climate convention meeting of December 2015, that countries discuss openly their detailed suggestions for the international climate agreement as well as their own climate action commitments, called INDCs in the climate jargon. Our Riga workshop allowed for such exchange of views between the EU and the six eastern partnerships countries.”

For more information contact Zsolt Lengyel, Team Leader & Key Expert on Climate Change. Tel: +31 610 274 085 or e-mail: or Matthew Green, Communications Expert. Tel: +44 207-444-4226 Project website: climaeast.eu

Click here to download the Press Release in PDF format

For more information: 

• The detailed agenda and the speakers’ presentations are available on the dedicated page of our website. 
• Pictures of the event are published on Clima East’s Facebook Page
• Have a look at the news piece the ENPI Info Centre dedicated to the event