N E W R E C
Following meetings held in Tbilisi, Georgia and Kiev, Ukraine last year, it became clear that progress was needed in establishing the New REC (or NREC), in the region of the Newly Independent States (NIS). During a meeting held from June 30 to July 1 in Moscow, it appears that progress was achieved.
With two years passed since preparations began at the Sofia Environment for Europe Conference, and another year to go until progress on NREC must be presented at the Aarhus Conference, the International Supervisory Body (ISB) Ñ the grouping of hosts, donors and observers charged with overseeing the set up of the NREC Ñ is being galvanized into action. And the EU's TACIS programme, created to give technical assistance to the NIS, has altered its approach from creating one secretariat to coordinate affairs to implementing separate NREC offices by separate contractors in three of the first four NREC countries Ñ Georgia, Moldova and Russia (the Ukrainian office has already been established with US assistance). TACIS representative Chris Le Breton outlined the new approach during the Moscow meeting, adding that contracts would be signed with appropriate consultants from each NREC country by summer. More emphasis will now be placed on the national offices, to which the central international coordination and information center will be subsidiary, and it is envisioned that the NREC will have a uniform mission and charter.
As promised in Moscow, consultants have already been charged with preparing the first phases in Georgia, Russia and Moldova. The "old" CEE REC is also providing assistance, particularly in Moldova.
However, delays and an apparent lack of information have caused an undercurrent of suspicion from some NGOs. "It is necessary for the process to become more transparent," said REC Deputy Director Alexander Juras, Project Supervisor of the NREC Feasibility Study and ISB member. "The low level of progress makes people nervous and question who controls the whole thing."
Robert Atkinson, Head of REC's Local Offices, felt that "without clear policies for how the new offices work together, it may be difficult to have a real regional element in the network of NRECs." He added that "a uniform charter, with articles on cooperation between the offices, will be the first element in assuring that the program addresses the regional issues it has been designed for."
That the NREC is still necessary is evident from the interest shown in the process, particularly among Central Asian countries which are clamoring to get the next NREC office.