The regional preparatory meeting organized for the Anex V countries was chaired by Belarus along with a reporter from Serbia and attended by 47 participants from the CEE region . In his opening speech, the UNCCD Executive Secretary emphasized that 13.5 million hectares have been pledged in CEE region calling the region to join its forces for mobilization of financial resources, pointing out some of the great initiatives like the the Great Green Wall. Having reviewed the CRIC19 official documents, CEE countries have presented and shared their contributions and experience within the voluntary national reviews. It was suggested to integrate LDN targets in the broader process of SDG implementation by – maintaining the LDN profile on a high level in the region; – organizing the capacity building support workshop and trainings; – continuing to work on mobilization of resources; – attracting more partners; focusing the UNCCD knowledge hub more on the regions; – strengthening the LDN monitoring and data collection from the region. After the presentation of the LDN Fund, the region emphasized that it is interested in a separate training by Mirova, as there’s very little knowledge on the Fund in the region.