Farm minister meets OECD officials over upcoming environmental performance review

Budapest (MTI) – The Hungarian farm minister held consultations with OECD officials about the organisation’s third environmental performance review to start at the end of the year, the ministry said on Wednesday.

Sándor Fazekas met Environment Director Simon Upton and policy analyst Eugene Mazurt in charge of the review, the ministry said in a statement.

Fazekas emphasised the importance of implementing a central environmental policy that serves to improve the conditions of a country’s natural environment.

Implementing a “green” policy is imperative in preserving waters and arable land that will become scarce natural resources, he said. This will also help improve people’s health and the country’s economic performance, he said.

After their talks the minister and the OECD officials attended a conference organised by the ministry to mark the 20th anniversary of Hungary’s OECD membership.

OECD conducted its previous environmental performance reviews in 1999-2000 and in 2007-2008 for Hungary.

Hungary eyes membership on OECD Development Assistance Committee

Hungary could become a member of the OECD’s Development Assistance Committee, foreign ministry state secretary István Mikola said after holding talks with the committee’s delegation in Budapest on Wednesday.

Talks held over the past two days suggest Hungary could be granted membership in December, Mikola said.

He noted that Hungary is the only member of the Visegrad Group, which also includes the Czech Republic, Poland and Slovakia, that is not yet a member of the DAC.

Karen Jorgensen, who is heading the OECD DAC delegation, said it was important that Hungary should also be a member of the committee as the country is a strong supporter of matters of development policy.

Source: MTI