On 16 March 2022, the virtual meeting entitled “The Partners’ Roundtable for the Launch and Operationalisation of the ECO Clean Energy Centre” was jointly organized by the Economic Cooperation Organization (ECO) Secretariat, the Ministry of Energy of the Republic of Azerbaijan, with the overall technical support of the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO).
The Meeting was attended by the delegations of ECO Member States, diplomatic missions accredited in the Republic of Azerbaijan, international organizations, international financial institutions and private sectors involved in development of clean energy as well as ECO Secretary General Amb. Khusrav Noziri, ECO Deputy Secretary General Amb. Huseyin Avni Bicakli and ECO Director for Energy Issues Mr. Rovshan Mirzayev.
The meeting focused on CECECO’s role and its potential to add value to the regional energy transition efforts. The CECECO partners presented the Centre’s roadmap, while showcasing the rationale for establishing such a partnership framework and highlighting the urgent need to move forward with the launch and operationalization phase of the Centre.
The ECO Secretary General, Ambassador Khusrav Noziri delivered a welcome statement, underlining the joint ECO-UNIDO Project on the establishment of an ECO Clean Energy Centre as an explicit example of sustainable energy transformation efforts of Organization’s current energy policy. He added that the Centre will become a member of the Global Network of Regional Sustainable Energy Centres, currently being implemented across the globe. The Secretary-General also recalled the decision of the 25th ECO Council of Ministers Meeting on the selection of the Republic of Azerbaijan as a host country to the Centre. He encouraged the Member States to sign the Charter of CECECO the soonest, in order to immediately tap into the benefits and advantages that the Centre will provide.
The Deputy Minister of Energy of the Republic of Azerbaijan Mr. Samir Valiyev emphasized in his remarks that the Government of Azerbaijan, as a host country, is fully committed to the operationalization of the Centre. He encouraged all the partners to consider supporting the Centre’s establishment and its activities, particularly at this early stage.
Ms. Petra Schwager, Chief of the Energy Technologies and Industrial Application Division of UNIDO Department of Energy emphasized in her statement that the success of the newly created ECO Clean Energy Centre highly depends on fruitful partnerships with international donors, clean energy industry, and academia. She pointed out that UNIDO has partnered with ECO to establish the CECECO, a dedicated regional agency to foster a sustainable energy market. The centre will provide the required regional technical capacity to attain the ECO region’s objectives, while becoming at the same time an integral part of the Global Network of Regional Sustainable Energy Centres (GN-SEC). Currently, UNIDO is coordinating the network, in partnership with various regional economic communities.
In the final session, Mr. Rovshan Mirzayev (Director of Energy, Minerals and Environment of the ECO Secretariat), Mr. Orkhan Zeynalov (Head of the International Cooperation Department of the Ministry of Energy of the Republic of Azerbaijan) and Mr. Martin Lugmayr, (GN-SEC Coordinator at UNIDO) highlighted in their presentations the background and the opportunities stemming from regional cooperation and the operationalization of the ECO Clean Energy Centre.
In conclusion, delegates from IRENA, the Kuwait Fund, Pakistan and BP Company made interventions to express their possible support in the future on functioning of the Centre. The meeting ended with an emphasis and call for action to complete the next phases of the establishment of CECECO.
For further information, please do not hesitate to contact:
Mr. Mamatmusa Ukubaev, ECO Secretariat ukubaev@eco.int
PP slides for Partners Roundtable
presentation on ECO energy profile and CECECO
