The EAC Deputy Secretary General, (Productive and Social Sectors), Mr Christophe Bazivamo, informed the second executive board meeting of the East African Centre for Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency (EACREEE), that as the EAC integration was business oriented, energy was key to promoting trade in the region.
A communiqué made available by the EAC Secretariat here from Kampala, Uganda where the meeting was taking place had the secretary noting that for some time now the region’s development was troubled by low access rates of energy, where high price of the services and poor cooking solutions were partly to blame for the situation.
“Low energy access rates, expensive electricity and poor cooking solutions have been hampering the region’s development,” Mr Bazivamo was quoted as saying.
He reminded the meeting that the original plan of EAC was to have EACREEE as an EAC institution, but due to financial constraints, other innovative ways were devised and hence College of Engineering, Design, Art and Technology (CEDAT) was selected to host EACREEE as a Centre of Excellence.
The secretary disclosed that efforts were underway for the EAC through the Inter -University Council of East Africa to ensure effective management of the EAC Centres of Excellence through the harmonisation of management guidelines.
The meeting was attended by members from partner states except South Sudan and was a follow up of the first meeting that was held on June 10, 2016.
Addressing the board members, the Chairman of the Executive Board and Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Development, Uganda, Dr Steven Isabalija, hailed the continued support of the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) and the Austrian Development Agency (ADA) to the EAC in the energy sector, specifically in renewable energy and energy efficiency.
He acknowledged the challenges faced by EACREEE in its early stages of operation and urged collective efforts among stakeholders in addressing the same.
The Principal of CEDAT, Professor Henry Alinaitwe, thanked the EAC Council of Ministers for selecting CEDAT to host EACREE and commended the support of UNIDO and ADA towards the Centre.
Professor Alinaitwe revealed that since its inauguration, CEDAT has been working with several stakeholders to advance the Centre’s activities.
The meeting took note of the progress report and of the challenges experienced by CEDAT in the implementation process, especially in regard to the registration of EACREEE as a legal entity handling programmes that are regional in nature.
The meeting agreed on the need for formulation of a Roadmap/Transitional document on how and when the Centre will graduate from being hosted in CEDAT to be a fullyfledged Centre of EAC.
Against the above observations and to take matters forward, the meeting requested the EAC Secretariat in collaboration with CEDAT to work on the transitional roadmap in line with decisions of the 33rd Meeting of the Council of Ministers.
0 comments:
Post a Comment