On Wednesday, 19.7.2017 SOS participated in a working meeting within the Partnership for Green Economy on the topic of cooperation with municipalities in the field of circular economy in order to highlight issues of financing, tasks and competences of municipalities. The meeting was convened by State Secretary Tadej Slapnik and took place at the premises of the Government of the Republic of Slovenia in Ljubljana.
The 3rd Urban Forum, dedicated to dialogue with key stakeholders for the development of cities, the exchange of good practices and solutions, and the discussion with mayors of 11 city municipalities, was pointed out as a baseline for the meeting of the Green Economy Partnership meeting.
Given that cities with their ecosystems are one of the key engines for the transition to green and circular economy, this year's forum was dedicated to the circular city economy. Among the conclusions of the forum and the round table of mayors, some specific proposals from the field of financing, borrowing and infrastructure financing of municipalities were made.
The meeting of the Green Economy Partnership was devoted to exchange information on activities for transition into circular economy and to discuss initiatives and possible solutions that also support circular models of development. Thus, the possibilities for financial resources to stimulate the transition to the circular economy have been highlighted, such as the EIB's financial mechanisms, that could be accessed by municipalities with the help of SID Bank, as well as hopefully positive outcome of the EU's negotiation for increased infrastructure and investment indebtedness, which could have a positive impact. In the discussion new business models introduction were mentioned as highly desirable, while concluding that it is difficult to introduce innovations into our rigid systemic arrangement.
State Secretary Slapnik summed up the meeting to confirm the intention of the organization of an open dialogue of the mayors with the government, announcing the involvement of associations in the preparation of the action plan, the so called Road-map for a circular economy. He thanked for initiatives by associations, some of which will be discussed at a future meeting of the Green Economy Partnership.
