Monrovia — Earlier on Monday, Bomi County Senator Edwin Melvin Snowe, Representing Dr. Sidie Mohamed Tunis, Speaker of the ECOWAS Parliament addressed the official opening of the Southern African Development Community (SADC) Parliamentary Forum 51st Plenary Assembly stressing the need for private sector energy conservation.
Considering the theme of the forum, "Towards Energy Efficiency, Sustainability, and Self Sufficiency in the SADC Region", he encouraged the SADC Parliament to place the greater issues of energy efficiency, building capability in energy management, encouraging research and development in energy technologies and soliciting the public interest on the role of the private sector in energy conservation at the core of their deliberations.
In his remarks, he expressed the ECOWAS Parliament's preparedness to share experiences on public-private partnership in the energy sector, as well as promote ideas that would address this very important issue across the regions.
"Your selected theme for this year's forum, "Towards Energy Efficiency, Sustainability, and Self Sufficiency in the SADC Region" is most appropriate.
He also stressed the importance of understanding the greater issues of energy efficiency, building capability in energy management, encouraging research and development in energy technologies, and soliciting the public interest in the role of the private sector in energy conservation.
"Granted that improving energy efficiency is about dollars and cents, we must equally agree that its impact on society goes way beyond financial outcomes. It is about protecting our energy resources and ensuring environmental sustainability for the benefit of future generations. I have no doubt that because of the quality of experts you have invited, these discussions will be rewarding to a sector that is largely untapped and one that will improve the standard of living across your region."
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On behalf of ECOWAS he said: "As for the ECOWAS region, we continue to emphasize that private sector engagement is fundamental to our goal of achieving energy efficiency. We believe that leveraging on private-sector engagement is a powerful force for improving lives, strengthening communities, and accelerating countries towards self-reliance."
He also said, the West African Power Pool, for example, is a clear manifestation of a public-private partnership. Covering fourteen of the fifteen countries of the ECOWAS region, the WAPP promotes power generation and transmission infrastructures, as well as coordinates power exchange among the ECOWAS Member States, thereby providing regular and reliable energy at a competitive cost for citizens of the region.
"We are open to sharing experiences on such partnerships, as well as promoting ideas that would address this very important issue across our regions. I trust that you will dedicate the next few days to reflecting on the challenges and issues related to the energy sector, and as you do so, it is my fervent hope that this forum will lead to the development of a new paradigm that expresses renewed commitments in addressing energy efficiency and self-sufficiency in the region."
