Concord Times (Freetown)
Abdul Karim Koroma
27 August 2008
Freetown — A one-day meeting of ministers of energy from the 15 member states of ECOWAS and UEMOA (Monetary and Economic Union of West Africa) would take place on Friday August 29 in Bissau, the capital of Guinea Bissau.
The meeting is part of the fulfillment of a 2008 mid-year ECOWAS heads of state summit decision to intensify efforts at the development of infrastructure to accelerate regional integration.
The summit had designated Presidents Joao Bernardo Vieira of Guinea Bissau and Laurent Gbagbo of Cote d'Ivoire to coordinate the efforts of both the ECOWAS and UEMOA Commissions in the energy and transport sectors, respectively.
The ministers would consider reports on energy relating to a common action plan on emergency power supply in West Africa, the establishment of the proposed regional regulatory body for the electricity sector and the implementation of the whitepaper on access to energy services for rural and peri-rural populations in the region.
The reports would emanate from a preceding two-day meeting of energy experts which is expected to begin today. The meeting of experts, composed of representatives of the ministries of energy in member states (chairpersons of the national multisectoral committees) as well as national electricity regulators, would consider the status of implementation of programmes and projects of the two commissions.
These would include the regional policy on energy access project and the regional centre for renewable energy and energy efficiency, the West African gas pipeline project, the West Africa power pool programme and the West African regional regulation programme.
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