Rajendra Shende, Head of UNEP OzonAction Programme, thanks the Government of Serbia for hosting the network meeting in Belgrade. He praises the work of National Ozone Units from 12 countries in the region for achieving compliance with the Montreal Protocol's phase out schedules ahead of schedule. Shende welcomes private sector partners to a roundtable on ozone- and climate-friendly technologies, noting public-private partnerships are crucial to meeting development goals through phasing out HCFCs with maximum climate benefits. He highlights that the ECA network countries have mitigated nearly 6,000 tons of CFCs equivalent to 36 million tons of carbon dioxide annually, and phasing out HCFCs could provide an

1. VIDEO Presentation for Serbia Network Meeting, Belgrade, Serbia, 10 May 2011
Mr. Rajendra Shende, Head of UNEP OzonAction Programme
Good Morning to all of you!
My name is Rajendra Shende, Head of OzonAction in Paris. First of all, my heart-felt thanks to the
Government of Serbia and particularly its Ministry of Environment for hosting this network meeting of
European & Central Asian countries.
My appreciation goes to the hard working National Ozone Units of 12 countries in the Region for their
targeted and tireless work of compliance with the Montreal Protocol phase out schedules. Many of you
have achieved compliance of phase out of CFCs, Halons and CTCs ahead of the Montreal Protocol
schedule which I consider as an extraordinary achievement, mainly because of such amazing
contribution from you, the Montreal Protocol is called as one of the most successful Multinational
Environmental Agreements by any standard.
Let me also welcome private sector partners, producers, researchers, trade associations and
refrigeration associations who will later take part in a roundtable on ozone- & climate-friendly
technologies. Public –private partnership is crucial to meet the Millennium Development Goals as
indicated in the Goal No 8. The challenge before this partnership is how to phase out HCFCs by a
maximum of climate benefits.
I would like to particularly mention the contribution made by the ECA network countries to mitigate
climate change by phasing out nearly 6,000 tons of CFCs which is nearly 36 million tons of carbon
dioxide equivalent / year. Meeting the challenge of HCFC phase out will result into additional climate
benefit of about 1 million tons of carbon dioxide equivalent / year. If we consider improvement in
energy-efficiency and destruction of CFCs and other ODS, the climate benefits will further enhance.
It is obvious that such benefits will not come to us automatically. We need to overcome the barriers of
technology transfer and set policies that will foster technology innovation. Your meeting will consider
such technology barriers through a presentation of a study recently made by UNEP. Limited
manifestation of unlimited potential of industries is the technology in this important meeting in
Belgrade.
UNEP is launching a virtual technology exhibition called “Ozone to Climate Technology Roadshow” to
give you the glimpses of that manifestation. The launch will take place simultaneously from Belgrade in
Serbia and Male in Maldives.
I wish you a great success and best wishes for the challenge ahead!