Europe & Central Asia Meeting of Montreal Protocol And Refrigeration & Air- Conditioning Experts

Valencia, Spain, 18 June 2018 – Acquainting Ozone Officers and managers of refrigeration associations from Europe and Central Asia with ozone-layer and climate friendly technologies using natural refrigerants The  Regional Ozone Network for Europe and Central Asia (ECA network) organized its annual network meeting in parallel to an international refrigeration conference.  This  time it takes place in parallel to the 13th Gustaf  Lorentzen Conference on Natural Refrigerants which is organized by the International Institute of Refrigeration (IIR) and the Polytechnic University in Valencia, Spain. Previously, ECA meetings with ozone officers and managers of national refrigeration associations took place in parallel to the 48th SMEITS/KGH International HVAC&R Congress and Exhibition in Belgrade, Serbia in December 2016 and the 7th Refrigeration Conference on Ammonia and Carbon Dioxide Technologies in Ohrid, Macedonia FYR in May 2017. This allows the refrigeration experts from ECA network countries and countries with economies in transition to have first-hand access to latest technology developments, to network with international experts and exchange their experience between themselves and with the national ozone officers. All participants of the ECA meeting were registered for the UN Environment / ASHRAE e-learning course “Refrigerants Literacy”. The participants include the ozone officers and managers of national refrigeration associations from the 11 ECA network countries (Albania, Armenia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Georgia, Kyrgyzstan, Macedonia FYR, Moldova, Montenegro, Serbia, Turkey and Turkmenistan) as well as countries with economies in transition (Belarus, Russia and Ukraine). In addition, representatives of the Ozone Secretariat, the implementing agencies UNDP, UN Environment and UNIDO and bilateral partners from Croatia and Romania attend the meeting. The meeting also includes an assessment of the needs and priorities of the ECA network countries which will help to design the network activities in 2019. Beside the ECA / K-CEP workshop for ozone officers and national energy policy makers which has already been decided, options include the twinning with another regional network or a network meeting in parallel with yet another international refrigeration conference.