3 October 2014: The SUSCO Budapest conference, the first in an annual series seeking to position Hungary as a regional leader in sustainability, focused on building a sustainable development network of actors and leaders in the Central Eastern European (CEE) region, and building dialogue between the public, private, and non-governmental sectors. The conference was organized by Antall József Knowledge Centre (AJKC), from 2-3 October 2014, in Budapest, Hungary.

A focus of discussion was the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), and the application of a new sustainable development agenda in the CEE region. Ambassador Csaba Kőrösi, Permanent Representative of Hungary to the UN and Co-Chair of the UN General Assembly’s Open Working Group (OWG) on the SDGs, gave remarks on his experiences leading the OWG process and the need for a paradigm shift toward sustainability. Private sector speakers included representatives from Ethanol Europe Renewables, General Electric, Unilever, Nestlé, and Coco-Cola.

The conference also included debate on the “nexus” topics of water, food, and energy, and considered the social, economic and environmental dimensions of these issues. A Youth Forum sought to engage younger people in discussing sustainability.

Péter Antall, AJKC Director, writes in an online welcome message that he hopes to make the conference an annual event that brings together a CEE regional sustainable development network. [Conference Website]