Tashkent, Uzbekistan, Sept. 20
By Fakhri Vakilov – Trend:
The energy ministers of the member-states of Central Asia Regional Economic Cooperation (CAREC) signed a joint declaration in Tashkent on September 20, 2019, in which the countries pledge to develop and implement the CAREC-2030 common energy strategy, Trend reports from the signing ceremony.
The ceremony was held within the First Dialogue of Ministers of Energy of the CAREC member-states, held in the capital of Uzbekistan.
The document was signed by Director General of the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) Adnan Z. Amin, Vice President for Private Sector and Public Private Partnership of the Asian Development Bank (ADB) Diwakar Gupta, Uzbek Minister of Energy Alisher Sultanov, Azerbaijani Deputy Minister of Energy Samir Valiyev and other officials.
The declaration consists of ten paragraphs and contains the commitments of the countries to the development of the common energy strategy for 2030 and cooperation in achieving the UN goal number seven in the field of sustainable development on “affordable and clean energy”.
The declaration was signed ahead of the UN Sustainable Development Summit, to be held in New York on September 24-25, 2019.
The new CAREC Energy Strategy 2030 is being developed in collaboration with ADB. The purpose of the strategy is to create reliable, stable, sustainable and reformed energy markets in the region by 2030 in accordance with the UN sustainable development agenda for the period until 2030.
"Today, the governments of the Central Asian countries demonstrate great ambitions,” Sultanov stated at the ceremony. “Uzbekistan is committed to the financially and environmentally sustainable energy industry. We look forward to working with other countries of the CAREC region and international sources of capital to achieve our goals."
The countries that signed the declaration also pledged to double the generation of electricity from solar energy and wind energy by 2023; implement reforms to create an investor-friendly regulatory framework to stimulate the private sector investment growth; create regional financing mechanisms within CAREC; and empower women who are not sufficiently represented in the energy sector of the CAREC region.
The first dialogue of energy ministers of the CAREC member-states was organized by the Uzbek government together with the Asian Development Bank.
The CAREC program was created upon the initiative of the Asian Development Bank in 2001. It is the partnership of 11 countries and partners working together to promote development through cooperation leading to the accelerated economic growth and prosperity. The CAREC member-states are Azerbaijan, Afghanistan, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Mongolia, Pakistan, China, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan.