The SE4ALL
coordinator, Karin Reiss, expressed her profound gratitude to the Government of
The Gambia for making the country one of the first ECOWAS countries to launch
the process and taking the lead for other ECOWAS countries to follow.
Madam Reiss expressed ECREE’s firm commitment to supporting their member states to successfully formulate Action Plans that are relevant to the region’s sustainable energy development aspirations.
She said ECREE would provide holistic support towards detailed resource assessments and grid capacity towards development of scenarios for Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency (RE and EE) deployment for the year 2020 and 2030.
Madam Reiss was speaking during the closing ceremony of the meeting on the development of the National Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency Action Plan and the Sustainable Energy for all, held at the Kairaba Beach Hotel recently.
The meeting also witnessed the launching of the steering committee for the development of the ECOWAS Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency National Action Plans and Sustainable Energy for All.
The meeting was jointly organised by the Ministry of Energy and the ECOWAS Center for Sustainable Energy and Energy Efficiency (ECREE).
Also speaking, Madam Izumi Morota of the UNDP said that the UNDP was “grateful” to The Gambia government for the engagement process demonstrated to date in taking advantage of SE4ALL for the achievement of its development priorities.
“We strongly believe that this will be a very successful process that will lead to the effective implementation of The Gambia’s energy priorities and attract a wide range of SE4ALL stakeholders in The Gambia,” Madam Morota said.
She also informed the gathering that the event marked in earnest the commencement and the official launch of the ECOWAS (ECREE) engagement in partnership with NEPAD and the UNDP to contribute to The Gambia’s AA/IP development process.
Madam Morota further said that such collaboration remains open to other partners for joint and coordinated efforts, under the auspices of the Government of The Gambia.
She added that in The Gambia, the UNDP had joined hands with NEPAD under the Hub umbrella to help the government in the development of a National SE4ALL Action Agenda and investment prospectus.
“These regional policies outlined clear targets for the ECOWAS regions and they include the requirement from member states to propose national action plans and measures which respond to the set regional targets by 2030,” she said.
She also revealed that in The Gambia, a strong set of partners have committed support to the SE4ALL process, such as the European Union, New Partnership for African Development (NEPAD) and the UNDP.
