The round-table is organized by the Ministry of Environment of the Republic of Moldova and the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe with the aim to discuss the draft law on Strategic Environmental Assessment in the Republic of Moldova and to initiate its pilot application to urban plans and programmes.

With support provided by the Espoo Convention secretariat the Ministry of Environment of the Republic of Moldova developed the draft law from January - May 2014. The adoption of the law will foster accession of the Republic of Moldova to the Protocol and facilitate further harmonisation of the national legislative framework with the requirements of the appropriate EU Directives.

Representatives of relevant Ministries, local authorities, members of Parliament as well as representatives from NGOs, the consultancy community and the private sector are invited to take part at the event and express their opinion on the draft law.

The participants of the event will also get familiar with practical aspects of application of SEA to urban plans and programmes, SEA place in environmental assessment systems and will discuss SEA benefits and potential challenges.

The Orhei municipality and the Ministry of Environment will inform the participants about their intent to test the draft law through carrying out a pilot SEA for the Orhei Town Master Plan and invite them to discuss roles of various stakeholders in the process.

The Round-table will be followed by a 2 days training workshop on practical application of the SEA. The workshop, which will support implementation of the pilot SEA, is targeted for practitioners who will help develop the SEA system in the Republic of Moldova, environmental experts, representatives of the Orhei municipality and urban planners. Interested and qualified participants will be invited to become exerts on the SEA team.

The activities were carried out with support of the EU funded Programme Greening Economies in the Eastern Neighbourhood (EaP-GREEN).