At the invitation of Republic of Kazakhstan and United Nations, the ECO Secretariat participated in Ministerial Conference and International Forum on Energy for Sustainable Development held on 11 June 2017 in Astana, Kazakhstan. The Meeting, organized in the context of Expo 2017, was attended by the ministers and high level officials from 85 countries, heads and high level officials from UN regional commissions and funds and programmes, and representatives of the business community and civil society.
At the invitation of Republic of Kazakhstan and United Nations, the ECO Secretariat participated in Ministerial Conference and International Forum on Energy for Sustainable Development held on 11 June 2017 in Astana, Kazakhstan. The Meeting, organized in the context of Expo 2017, was attended by the ministers and high level officials from 85 countries, heads and high level officials from UN regional commissions and funds and programmes, and representatives of the business community and civil society.
The theme of the Conference, inaugurated by the distinguished Prime Minister of Kazakhstan, was “Meeting the Challenge of Sustainable Energy” which was addressed through debates and discussions in different ministerial plenary and panel dialogues. Issues such as “Energy Security, Regional Trade & Infrastructure”, “Energy-Climate-Food Nexus: Towards a Circular Economy”,” Renewable Energy in Central Asia”; and “Promoting New Technologies and Innovations” were among the lead topics discussed in the ministerial sessions.
ECO Deputy Secretary General, Mr. Seyed Jalaledin Alavi Sabzevari was among the panellists in the “Ministerial Dialogue on Energy-Climate-Food Nexus: Towards a Circular Economy”. Panellists, which included also Minister of Energy, Green Technology and Water of Malaysia, Minister of Natural Resources of Surinam, Deputy Minister of Energy of Georgia, Secretary General of Club of Rome, and Director of Sustainable Energy of UN Economic Commission For Europe, shared their views with the audience on the ways and means and also implications of application of an integrated and synergist approach to challenges of energy, climate change and food security. These three sectors, also addressed by the Sustainable Development Goals, constitute challenges while implementing the sectoral strategies and policies at the national, regional and global levels. ECO Deputy Secretary General also shared its views on desirability and probability of application of the nexus approach to these sectors at the regional revel, including in the ECO Region.
At the end of the Conference, “Ministerial Statement on Access to Affordable Reliable, Sustainable and Modern Energy” was adopted by the Participants.
