16 & 17 July 2008, Hungary

As part of the work on the Biodiversity Technical Assistance Units (BTAU) project for 2008, Vineta Goba (Programme Manager – Business and Biodiversity) and Rob Wolters (Executive Director ECNC) provided substantial input to two BTAU meetings in Hungary.

Rob Wolters chaired the BTAU Financial Instruments Workshop on 16 July. The meeting was held at the premises of the EBRD in Budapest. It was attended by project team members Vineta Goba (ECNC), Zbigniew Karpowicz and Jack Foxall (RSPB), Attila Králl and Dénes Nagy (MME), Mira Dikova and Rouja Johnstone (BSPB), Zenon Tederko (OTOP), as well as András Demeter (European Commission), Eszter Kovács (Hungarian Ministry of Environment and Water), Miklós Hulényi (BTAU Hungary banking expert) and Botond Vincze (Corporate Business Development Department of UniCredit Bank, Budapest branch). Mark Hughes of EBRD London contributed to the morning session via a conference call.

During the morning session, the first set of actions on behalf of ECNC (such as meeting with EIB and discussions during CBD COP9), and the situation and needs of each BTAU were discussed. During the afternoon session, ECNC drew up and presented to the participants actions required to launch dedicated financial instruments for implementation of pro-biodiversity business projects.

On 17 July the BTAU project Steering Committee meeting was held at Aranyponty Fishpond enterprise, at Rétszilas, about 100 km south-east of Budapest. András Demeter of the European Commission chaired the meeting. Besides project team members from the previous day, Jane Feehan of EIB,  Halmos Gergõ, Director of MME Hungary, as well as new team member and coordinator of BTAU Hungary – Levente Huszti – participated in the meeting.

During the meeting, the main items for discussion were the final draft of the BTAU Handbook, BTAU business plans, reports and updates from three countries, project progress, operations and future of BTAUs post-2009, as well as a branding workshop and the possibility to create a specific ‘pro-biodiversity business’ brand. Jane Feehan informed the meeting participants about the EIB’s increasing attention to biodiversity and plans to launch a biodiversity and ecosystem services fund by the end of 2008.

During the day, meeting participants had an opportunity to get acquainted with Aranyponty enterprise, to meet its owners, to see the visitor centre and hotel, fishponds and camping, and of course, to taste fish soup and other Hungarian delicacies at the local restaurant.