EcoWeek 2013 – is a healthy environment for socio-economic development of the country

28 May in the hotel «International Hotel Tashkent» was launched an opening ceremony dedicated to the celebration of 5 June - World Environment Day and the 25th anniversary of the State Committee for Nature Protection. The topic of this event was a reducing the waste of food. This topic is very relevant for many countries, among which, of course, include Central Asian countries, including Uzbekistan, due to their densely populated areas and the accelerated pace of development.

The organizers of the EcoWeek were the State Committee for Nature Protection of the Republic of Uzbekistan, United Nations Development Programme in Uzbekistan (UNDP), the Global Environment Facility’s Small Grants Programme (GEF SGP) under UNDP, Regional Environmental Centre for Central Asia (CAREC) Country Office and the United Nations Information Centre in Uzbekistan. Representatives of ministries and governmental agencies, members of the diplomatic corps, international organizations accredited in Uzbekistan, artists, and journalists was invited to participate in the opening ceremony of the EcoWeek 2013.

EcoWeek began on 28 May 2013 and will end on June 5 - the World Environment Day. Events of the EcoWeek will cover several regions of the country. It was started in Tashkent from Eco Fair and conference of the Small Grant Programme, the button was passed to Samarkand, Andijan, Navoi regions, Bukhara city and Kashkadarya region. According to the agenda the events will take place in these areas and the EcoWeek will be end in Tashkent, in the park of culture and rest named after Gafur Gulam.

Eco-Exhibition was launched in the spacious lobby of the hall "Crystal" at «International Hotel Tashkent». The exhibition organizers of the EcoWeek State Committee for Nature Protection of the Republic of Uzbekistan, United Nations Development Program, the Global Environment Facility’s Small Grants Programme, Regional Environmental Centre for Central Asia (CAREC) Country Office and the United Nations Information Centre in Uzbekistan have been actively involved to the implementation. The organizers of the exhibition presented their work on various projects and thematic areas of activity to the visitors. It was presented a lot of printed information on projects and technologies, publications and information pagers, layouts, displays and banners. The projects and programmes presented their presentations and animation films.

After viewing the exhibition, guests and participants were invited to the "Crystal" Hall for the opening ceremony of EcoWeek 2013. It consisted of the welcome speeches, announcement of the EcoWeek events of 2013 and the presentation of the national report on the current state of the environment and use of natural resources in the Republic of Uzbekistan.

So the first day of the EcoWeek ended and we(Small Grants Program team) were waited for our main event - the celebration of the 5th anniversary of our programme in Uzbekistan and Conference dedicated to this important and exciting date and our achievements through this period.