The meeting was chaired by Mr. Anatoly Markevich, Chairman of Novogrudok Regional Committee. Other participants included Mr. Sergei Faliuk, Deputy Chairman of the Regional Committee, experts from the Economic Department, Mr. Svyatoslav Pavlyuk from the office of the Covenant of Mayors East and Mr. Vladimir Kouzmich, appointed local expert for the DACO project. There were also representatives of the local industry, energy departments, forestry management department and local press.

The morning presentations focused on the formal introduction to the Covenant of Mayors, the DACO project and local Sustainable Energy Action Plans. This was followed by a press conference. The afternoon session was dedicated to the presentation and in-depth discussion by the stakeholders of the features, projects and advancements in the local community.

During the meeting, Mr. Markevich stated that the municipality of Novogrudok aimed to formally sign up to the Covenant of Mayors by September 2012, which would be an important step towards the successful accomplishment of the DACO project.

The global objective of the DACO (Yes (Da) to the Covenant) action is to support local authorities in acquiring a common methodology to correctly monitor, evaluate and reduce their energy consumption and CO2 emissions. More specifically, the aim is to improve energy security at local level by enhancing energy efficiency, reducing dependence on fossil fuels and contributing to climate change mitigation in the participating regions, thus implementing the concept "Think Globally, Act Locally". The intention is to extend the principles, rules and goals of the Covenant of Mayors to these new participating regions.

Note: the DACO project benefits from financial assistance from the European Commission. The views expressed on this page are those of the Energy Charter Secretariat and can therefore in no way be taken to reflect the official opinion of the European Commission.