On July 15, the Permanent Mission of Armenia to the United Nations, in the framework of Armenia’s Chairmanship of the Eurasian Economic Union, hosted a side-event entitled “Investing into Climate Smart Economies: Energy Efficiency for Sustainable Development Goals” at the United Nations Headquarters in New York. The event, which featured H.E. Mr. Tigran Avinyan, Deputy Prime Minister of Armenia, as keynote speaker, was organized on the margins of the High-level Political Forum on sustainable Development, being held in New York.

The panel discussion was chaired by the Permanent Representative of Armenia to the UN Mher Margaryan. The panelists included Mirjana Spoljaric Egger, ASG, UNDP Assistant Administrator, Tatyana Valovaya, Member of the Board (Minister) for Integration and Macroeconomics of the Eurasian Economic Commission, Larysa Belskaya, Director General for Multilateral Diplomacy, MFA of Belarus, Kairat Umarov, Permanent Representative of Kazakhstan to the UN, Mrs. Mirgul Moldoisaeva, Permanent Representative of Kyrgyzstan to the UN, Dmitry Chumakov, Deputy Permanent Representative of Russia to the UN and Dmitry Mariyasin, UNDP Resident Representative in Armenia.

H.E. Mr. Tigran Avinyan in his statement reflected on global and regional trends in energy sector, emphasizing that Armenia has gained considerable practical experience in improving energy efficiency, by developing new technologies, as well as by initiating new national programs. He stressed that the energy efficiency is of ultimate importance for Armenia to meet its energy security challenge, achievement of economic growth and meeting its Paris Agreement commitments.

The Permanent Representative of Armenia in his remarks mentioned the steps undertaken by Armenia aimed at ensuring compatibility and coherence of the national priorities of Armenia with Energy Efficiency, noting in this regard the existing partnership between the Government of Armenia and UNDP․ He also reflected on the regional initiatives by the Eurasian Economic Commission in the area of Energy Efficiency. 

Attended by a large number of representatives of the UN member states and NGOs, meeting concluded with Q&A Session.