Arusha — TANZANIA has been highlighted as a leading example among East African countries for its significant efforts in promoting the development and use of clean energy, particularly natural gas.

This recognition was recently made by the Secretary General of the Eastern African Power Pool (EAPP), Mr James Wahogo, during the Regional Training Course on Energy Demand Analysis for the Eastern African Sub-region.

Mr Wahogo commended Tanzania for its strides in advancing clean energy, noting the country's abundance of natural gas resources. He pointed out that East African nations are closely observing Tanzania's continued progress in energy production, which could benefit other countries in the region, particularly in eastern and southern Africa.

"Southern African countries like Zambia are facing challenges from climate change, which leads to drought and impacts energy production. Tanzania could play a crucial role in addressing such power shortages," Mr Wahogo said.

He also encouraged East African nations to maintain strong cooperation to ensure sufficient energy production to meet the growing demands of their populations.

Dr Denis Mwalongo, Director and Manager from the Tanzania Atomic Energy Commission (TAEC), said the training aimed to promote and improve energy development in the East African region.

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"This training brought together 13 countries, including Tanzania, Kenya, Rwanda, the DRC, Congo, Burundi, Egypt, South Sudan, Somalia, Ethiopia and Uganda, to discuss and develop strategic plans to enhance energy production over the next 50 years," Dr Mwalongo said.

He further explained that the goal of the training was to explore ways to share electricity across borders, particularly when one country has a surplus of energy that could be distributed to others in need.

Experts also met to discuss the best approaches to producing electricity based on the needs of their populations over the next 50 years, using available demographic data.