On February 1-5, 2010, on the invitation of the Office for Democratic Belarus, a group of Belarusian experts on energy visited Brussels. The delegation, which included representatives from the State Belarusian Technical University, the Belarusian National Academy of Sciences and  state institutions, took part in a training course, entitled “EU Energy Policy: Sharing Knowledge with Belarus”.

During the visit, the Belarusian delegates had a chance to get acquainted with the work of various EU Institutions and meet key experts on energy issues and Eastern Europe at the Directorate-General (DG) for External Relations and the DG for Research of the European Commission, the Energy Charter, and the European Parliament. On the invitation of the Permanent Representation of the Slovak Republic to the European Union, the Belarusian group of experts also had an opportunity to exchange views on Energy issues with fellow experts from Visegrad countries.

The topics covered in the programme included EU-Belarus relations, renewable energy sources, energy efficiency, and energy security, the Eastern Partnership Initiative, and the state of the nuclear energy research in the EU.

The programme also included a visit to Electrawinds – a company that comprises a number of biosteam and biofuel plants in Oostende and is currently the largest private player on the Belgian renewable energy market.

This visit is part of a larger programme for Belarusian experts, which is being implemented by the Office for a Democratic Belarus supported by the Danish Ministry of Foreign Affairs (DMFA). Candidates for the participation in this programme are selected through an open call for applications. The organisers welcome participation of experts from both civil society initiatives and state and government institutions.

Office for a Democratic Belarus extends its gratitude to all partners who helped to make this project possible.