On the invitation of Minister of Energy of the Republic of Azerbaijan and the Secretary General of International Energy Charter, a delegation of the Economic Cooperation Organization headed by Ambassador Huseyin Avni Bicakli, Deputy Secretary General of ECO participated in the Ministerial Session of 31st Meeting of Energy Charter Conference on December 17, 2020 under the chairmanship of Azerbaijan.
The meeting was held in video conference format on the theme of “Energy Efficiency for All: Innovations and Investments”.
During his statement H.E. Ambassador Huseyin Avni Bicakli expressed ECO’s readiness for collaboration with Azerbaijan and other Member States to move on the path of development for the collective betterment of the region. ECO Deputy Secretary General underlined the ECO’s efforts to pave the way for diverse and resilient regional energy architecture, mainstreaming the sustainable energy transition in the organization’s overall energy agenda and transformation to clean energy sources. Ambassador Bicakli mentioned the organization’s current process for the establishment of ECO Clean Energy Center and ECO Regional Electricity Market as explicit examples of ECO’s efforts in this regard. He also invited international partners seeking their cooperation to enrich the ECO’s recent initiative for the formation of new Regional Energy Strategy which is aimed at providing a comprehensive direction for transformation of energy mix to reliable, sustainable, resilient and reformed energy market amid new dynamics on the global energy scene covering mid and long term perspectives.
Apart from the high-level speakers from member countries to the Energy Charter, the Meeting also was attended by the international and regional organizations such as EU, OPEC, BSEC, etc.
The Ministerial Meeting discussed the innovations, sustainability and investments supporting energy transition, alignment and establishment of effective public-private co-investment mechanisms to support and finance undertakings engaged in energy innovations, establishment of innovative energy funds, increasing the role of public procurement in energy efficiency and creating national institutions devoted to public support of energy innovations.
