SAARC Energy ministers meet Thursday to consider enhanced cooperation
Piyush Goyal, Minister of State (I/C) for Power, Coal and Renewable Energy is scheduled to inaugurate the meeting on the Friday. The energy ministers’ meeting will be preceded by a meeting of senior officials of the SAARC on the Thursday, Oct 16. A number of important issues, related to the Energy sector in the member countries would dominate the discussions.
Apart from the host country India, Energy Ministers and senior officials from the SAARC member countries, like Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka are expected to participate in the two-day meeting.
The agenda of the meeting include review of status of implementation of decisions of the Fourth Meeting of SAARC Energy Ministers held in Dhaka, on 15 September 2011 and consideration of the Report of the Senior Officials Meeting held in New Delhi, on 16 October 2014. It also includes consideration of the issues related to enhanced cooperation in energy sector amongst the SAARC countries.
South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) was created in 1985 with its Secretariat in Kathmandu, Nepal. Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka are the Members of this Association.
The process of regional cooperation in energy sector began in January 2000 with the establishment of a Technical Committee on Energy. Thereafter, recognizing that this vital area requires focused attention, the Council of Ministers approved the creation of a specialized Working Group on Energy in January 2004 to conduct a study on the concept of the South Asian Energy Ring and constituted Ministerial level Energy Forum through the Islamabad declaration of the 12th SAARC Summit.
The First Meeting of the SAARC Energy Ministers was held at Islamabad on Oct 1, 2005 which decided the formation of an Expert Group to deliberate on the options and potential of energy conservation and energy efficiency measures and to formulate a road map for implementation in the SAARC region. The Expert Group formulated a Road Map for implementation by the Member States. The second meeting of the SAARC Energy Ministers was held on 7th March 2007 in New Delhi. The third meeting of the SAARC Energy Ministers was held in Colombo on 29th January 2009. The fourth meeting of the SAARC energy Ministers was held in Dhaka on 14-15 September 2011, Bangladesh.
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