Фото: МИД
Belarus was unable to make a payment under the Montreal Protocol. This was stated by Dzmitry Krasouski, Belarus’s representative to the UN Environment Programme (UNEP).
According to the Foreign Ministry, the diplomat told participants at a meeting in Nairobi that Belarus had been unable to make its regular contribution under the protocol: the payment was rejected by a correspondent bank, citing sanctions restrictions. According to Krasouski, this represents a systemic vulnerability in which states’ ability to meet their financial obligations to multilateral environmental mechanisms becomes directly dependent on decisions by financial institutions in third countries.
Krasouski proposed that UNEP leadership reform payment channels, including by expanding payment methods and exploring the possibility of maintaining UN accounts in a wider range of currencies instead of relying predominantly on the U.S. dollar.
The Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer was signed in 1989 and has since been amended seven times. As part of the implementation of the protocol, the Multilateral Fund was established to assist developing countries in reducing the consumption and production of ozone-depleting substances.