This paper advocates a greater emphasis on preventive environmental measures when supporting CEE industry. Experience from projects carried out so far show that cleaner production deserves a high priority. The implementation of good housekeeping measures, at no or low cost, have brought about reductions of pollution and resource use in the order of 15–25%, thereby also improving production efficiency. Despite the cost effectiveness and other apparent advantages of a cleaner production strategy the Western actors are slow to grasp this opportunity. CEE industry, on the other hand, has unrealistic hopes for direct financial support for new technology and are less interested in gradual improvements of their process efficiency by a combination of technical and managerial measures. The introduction of preventive environmental strategies at an early stage of the reconstruction of CEE industry could be seen as a competitive advantage in the long run.

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