4th ECO Experts Group Meeting on Renewable Energy Sources (EGRES)

On 27 April 2022 the 4^th ECO Experts Group Meeting on Renewable Energy Sources was hosted virtually by the Ministry of Energy of the Republic of Uzbekistan.

Delegates from Republic of Azerbaijan, Islamic Republic of Iran, Republic of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyz Republic, Islamic Republic of Pakistan, Republic of Türkiye and Republic of Uzbekistan, as well as, representatives from the ECO Secretariat and United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) have attended the meeting.

At the outset ECO Secretary General His Excellency Ambassador Khusrav Noziri delivered a welcome statement and noted that this interaction will enable ECO region to review energy agenda in renewables and energy efficiency issues, revitalizing the envisaged objectives based on the Member States’ shared interests and covering current and future prospects of the regional cooperation in transition to sustainable energy. ECO Secretary General expressed strong hope that current expert group framework will provide a practical contribution to deliberations for upcoming 5^th ECO Ministerial Meeting in Energy also expected to be hosted by Republic of Uzbekistan in 4^th quarter of 2022.
As a chairman of the meeting, Deputy Minister of Energy of the Republic Uzbekistan Mr. Sherzod Khodjaev emphasized that Republic of Uzbekistan pays special attention to the issues of energy efficiency of both industrial and urban, administrative facilities and popularization of energy efficiency issues among the population. An Energy Efficiency Fund has been created under the Ministry of Energy and a lot of work has been done to develop small-scale generation for households based on small solar installations and solar collectors. He also expressed the hope that the upcoming 5^th Energy Ministerial Meeting under the chairmanship of the Uzbekistan will be fruitful and be able to jointly lay the foundation for projects aimed at ensuring energy and environmental security in the region.
Heads of delegations of the Member States introduced state of affairs in the field of renewable energy/energy efficiency.

For the studying best international practices, UNIDO certified energy efficiency expert, Mr. Alfred Hartzenburg depicted contemporary mechanism on industrial energy efficiency accelerator.
The meeting sequenced with illustration current situation on operationalization of ECO Clean Energy Center delivered by host country representative, Mr. Orkhan Zeynalov, head of the International Cooperation Department of the Ministry of Energy of the Republic of Azerbaijan. He called Member States for active engagement and signing the Charter of the ECO Clean Energy Center for its timely operationalization.

On behalf of the ECO Secretariat, Mr. Rovshan Mirzayev, Director (EME) of the ECO Secretariat made presentation on initiative to launch new project in setting regional goal on energy efficiency/consumption.
At the end of the meeting, all participants expressed their gratitude to the organizers and asked the ECO Secretariat to send the report of the meeting to all participants for further study and consideration.

For further information, please do not hesitate to contact:
Mr. Mamatmusa Ukubaev, ECO Secretariat ukubaev@eco.int