AU Conference of Energy Ministers of Africa (CEMA) / All-Africa Energy Week 2010 (AAEW) / Pan-African Investment Forum (PAIF)
MAPUTO, Mozambique, October 29, 2010/African Press Organization (APO)/ — Invitation
THEMES :”Energy Infrastructure and Services
in the Context of Climatic Challenges”
“Promotion of Investment for
Infrastructure Development in Africa”
INVITATION TO REPRESENTATIVES OF THE MEDIA
WHEN: November 1st to 5th 2010
The conference will be organized as follow:
Energy and Climate / All Africa Energy Week, 1-2 November 2010
African Investment Forum, 2-3 November 2010
AU Conference of Energy Ministers of Africa (CEMA), 3-5 November 2010
Exhibition: Energy technologies and innovations in the context of climatic challenges, 1-5 November 2010
WHERE: JoaquimChissano Conference Center,
Maputo, Mozambique
WHO: The African Union Commission (AUC), African Development Bank (AfDB), and the UN Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA) are co-organisers, in partnership with UN-Energy/Africa, in conjunction with and under the auspices of AU Conference of Energy Ministers of Africaand hosted by the Government of the Republic of Mozambique.
WHY: African Ministers responsible for energy convene under the auspice of the African Union, to discuss the formalization of the gathering as a statutory conference for high level decision making in sector. The objectives of the conference are to: 1) adopt the mandate and functioning modalities of CEMA that will now streamline all other existing energy ministerial fora; 2) adopt a number of recommendations related to continental policies, major programmes and projects in the energy sector. The Conference will, inter alia, discuss and adopt reports on the operationalisation of the African Petroleum Fund, solar energy in Saharan Africa, the Programme for Infrastructure Development in Africa (PIDA), the geothermal development strategy, Africa-EU partnership and other issues related to the AAEW and the PAIF.
Expected outcomes:
The key expected outcomes of the conference are:
Private sector participation in infrastructure development promoted, and capacity of public and private sectors to invest in energy and energy related sectors improved.
Update on progress achieved towards institutional and regional goals, international, continental and regional organizations in each African regions reviewed and monitored. A monitoring mechanism will be adopted;
More consensus, coherence and strategic partnerships among key players (international, public and private) for the development and investments in energy projects built; A communication strategy will be designed.
Strategic and operational tools for supporting the implementation the African clean energy agenda improved;
Best practices and updated knowledge on energy and energy-related infrastructure including clean energy infrastructure and services shared and disseminated among relevant stakeholders.
New knowledge shared and consensus built on responses to emerging important regional or global issues related to clean energy technologies;
capacity to effectively manage the oil/gas sector so that it contributes to promote broad-based economic growth strengthened;
energy planning capabilities at the country and REC’s level improved; and
Adoption by Ministers of the mandate and modalities of functioning of CEMA, and a Declaration on important decisions related to continental policies in the energy sector, including the modalities for the operationalisation of the African Petroleum Fund, conclusions of studies on solar energy in Africa, strategy for geothermal development, progress report on the Programme for Infrastructure Development in Africa (PIDA), the launching of the AAEW series, issues on Africa-EU partnership, the PAIF and others.
Participants
Expected participants are: African Ministers responsible for energy; investors, private sector and development partners from Africa, Asia and EU; country-specific experts, stakeholders and partners; partners from the AfDB, EU, WB, and UN organizations; investment promotion agencies in Africa; Regional Economic Communities (RECs), African specialized institutions, and Sub-Regional Development Banks; Energy NGO, selected academia and research institutions; and Africa Infrastructure Consortium and PPIAF.
Background
An overview of the African Energy sector strikes by the contrast between a continent relatively well-endowed with energy resources and the deprivation of its population, industries and businesses of the minimum energy services and products that they require to face the challenges of modern lives, wealth creation and productivity, the essence of poverty eradication and economic growth.
Surveys in African countries show that the lack of energy has impeded recent economic growth, by slowing down businesses, reduced productivity and is threatening poverty reduction efforts in the continent.
However, energy markets on the continent are poised to drastically grow, because of the return of economic growth projected above 5% in 2011, and increased efforts for developing regional energy infrastructure. Nevertheless more concerted efforts at policy and regulatory levels for building strategic partnerships between all actors, particularly the public and the private sector are sine qua none condition for bridging the current huge energy infrastructure gap.
Undeniably, addressing the energy challenge facing the continent requires a synergy of actions at national, regional and continental levels by various actors. These actions would take into account global challenges such as climate change and the increase competition to accessing finance for investment in the sector. Leading the way, the AUC, the AfDB, and the UNECA in collaboration with other UN partners are calling all key stakeholders to design adequate responses, under the auspices of African Energy Ministers, in the context of a three pronged executive event.
Journalists are invited to take part in all events of AU Conference of Energy Ministers of Africa
SOURCE
African Union Commission (AUC)
