Romania is strengthening its bilateral relations with Poland and recently established the European Institute for Sustainable Development. The institute in Poland facilitates the international know-how transfer and one of its key objectives is the implementation of the principles of sustainability in public policies.
Moreover, it will develop projects with partners from the academic environment, the business environment and in close connection with local authorities and representatives of civil society in Poland.
Also, efficient tools will be developed to strengthen the institutional capacity of local authorities in matters related to environmental protection, circular economy, climate change and other aspects of sustainable development, raising the level of awareness of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and adopting a set of effective actions to implement the SDGs at the local level.
It will act as an accelerator for the implementation of the Global Sustainable Development Goals at the local level in Poland, Romania and in the member states, but also as a catalyst for collaboration between the central and local public administration, the business environment, the academic environment and civil society, in order to identifying the best solutions for a sustainable future, in accordance with the UN 2030 Agenda.
Among the 193 UN member countries, Poland ranks 9th with an evaluation index for the progress of the sustainable development objectives of 81.80 (SDG Index score), while Romania ranks 35th, with a 77.46 score.
The institute is founded by ARDLD – the Romanian Association for Sustainable Local Development – led by Alina Bilan, partner of the law firm ONV LAW and ERCS – the European Resource Center for Sustainability, together with the Polish-Romanian Society from Krakow.
“The European Institute for Sustainable Development is the first initiative of this type that our country is starting. For me, it is a great privilege to be actively involved in improving the collaboration mechanisms between the European Union states. Each participant in this process, be it mayor, representative of civil society, businessman or representative of the environment academic, has an important role because, by effectively using everyone’s experiences and skills, we can learn, evolve and build together a sustainable future for local communities”, says Alina Bilan.
Recently, the European Institute for Sustainable Development organized, together with academic partners (University of Economics in Krakow, Jagiellonian University in Krakow) and public authorities in Poland (Association of Polish Cities and Wieliczka City Hall) the International Conference Local Government 6.0.- Social Development, Economic Services, Modern Finances, which was attended by specialists from various fields, teachers, leaders in administration and business, activists and other personalities from around the world (Poland, Germany, France, Italy, Romania, Ukraine and the United States of America).
Organized in the Polish city of Wieliczka, the conference provided to participants a platform for debate on the future of local communities, with the stated aim of identifying solutions and defining a new vision for a sustainable future.
