Sushilkumar Shinde inaugurates south Asia Energy Dialogue
SAARC countries should come together as one voice to meet Energy need of the Region: Sushilkumar Shinde
Union Power Minister, Shri Sushilkumar Shinde has called upon the SAARC countries to come together as the voice of the region to meet the energy needs of the region efficiently and in a sustainable manner. Inaugurating the South Asia Energy Dialogue in New Delhi today he appealed to the participants consisting of experts, academicians, and representatives of various organizations from Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka, to reach at an unambiguous consensus that no unreasonable restriction that may obstruct and hinder the development process in the region, can be imposed.
Setting out the agenda for the day long meeting, the Minister said that the challenge is to meet the energy demand through safe, clean and convenient forms of energy at an affordable cost in a technically efficient, economically viable and environmentally sustainable manner. He informed the gathering that India has placed on highest priority the development of all feasible hydro potential as clean and renewable energy. In South Asia Region, less than one fifth of the feasible hydro potential has been developed so far, providing a huge opportunity for meeting our energy needs in a cost effective manner on a long term basis. Pointing out that the international opinion has changed significantly and international financial institutions are once again looking favourably at hydro power projects, Shri Shinde said that development of hydro potential will also address the concerns rising from climate change to a significant extent.
Lauding the efforts of Bangladesh in the management of rural electricity supply through local communities, Shri Shinde said there is a need to come together and learn from each other to achieve the goal of universalizing access to electricity.
On the concept of “SAARC Energy Ring”, the Minister said that this would basically consist of trans-national energy lines for trade in electricity, gas and oil as facilitating and promoting trade in energy in South Asia region has been identified as one of the key areas for cooperation. He said the energy output from energy sources in the region varies in different seasons and there are surpluses and deficits which could complement each other.
Shri Shinde also floated the idea of developing inter country grid connections. He said India already has grid interconnection with Nepal and Bhutan and technical studies are underway regarding feasibility of grid interconnections with Sri Lanka and Bangladesh.
Referring to the success achieved by Sri Lanka in energy efficiency, the Minister emphasized development of energy efficient buildings for containing the surge in demand for electricity in the context of growing urbanization in SAARC countries.
Calling for wider public support for reform process, Shri Shinde urged all the participants to pay special attention to those aspects of reforms in the energy sector which can further facilitate protection of consumer interests while ensuring financial viability of the utilities.
In his address, the Secretary General SAARC Shri Chenkyab Dorji of Nepal said that the inputs of the meeting will be helpful in setting the agenda for energy cooperation in the region.
Earlier, welcoming the delegates, Secretary, Ministry of Power, Shri Anil Razdan expressed hope that the meeting will discuss the issues such as reforms in the energy sector, interconnectivity, clean energy and energy efficiency and provide valuable inputs for moving towards a prosperous South Asia.
Energy is a high priority area for cooperation in SAARC. At the Thirteenth SAARC Summit held in Dhaka in November 2005, the Prime Minister of India proposed a South Asia Energy Dialogue, involving experts, academics, environmentalists, officials and NGOs, to recommend measures to tap vast and latent potential for cooperation. Inputs from this Energy Dialogue would be considered for furthering cooperation in the energy sector in SAARC.
The Ministry of External Affairs and the Ministry of Power are jointly hosting the event.
PRA/NC