Press Release No: P004/18/AFREC

Kigali, RWANDA, on Octobre1st 2008:the African Commission of Energy, in collaboration with the International Agency of Energy ‘IAE’ and the Ministry in charge of Energy and Water of the Republic of Rwanda, has organized its 1st workshop related the Energy Efficiency, under the theme ‘Energy Efficency,a tool for the implementation of the SDG7

The workshop has reunited 33 participants from 16 national focal points from countries of (the Central African region, East Africa, North Africa, Southern Africa and Western Africa) as well as :( PEAC, EACREEE, NEPAD, ECAAS, RCREEE, WAPP, ECREEE, AfDB, SAPP and the AEEP consultant and IEA).

Mr Marzouk Atef, AFREC Interim Executive Director expressed the great contentment he had to have organized the 1st AFREC Seminar on Energy Efficiency, enlightened the audience about the celebration of the 10th anniversary of AFREC and welcomed all Participants to Kigali. He expressed his profound gratitude to the Government of the Republic of Rwanda for hosting the first AFREC seminar and to the International Energy Agency (IEA), AFREC's partnership, which has always provided the usual support to the creation of a database on energy efficiency and capacity building of African experts. He pointed out that energy statistics and the energy information system in Africa are insufficient due to the lack of developers and suppliers who tend not to show any interest, lack of expertise, lack of perception, etc ... and reported that until recently, neither completed database nor adequate information for most sectors and energy resources were available. Such a problem originates from various difficulties often associated with institutional frameworks and lack of coordination between different stakeholders in this area, whether at national or regional level.

In conclusion, Interim Executive Director of AFREC, Mr Marzouk Atef explained that Energy Efficiency is essential and fundamental to guarantee the future of a Safe, Reliable, Affordable and Sustainable Energy System. It is the only energy resource that each country possesses abundantly and is the quickest and cheapest means used in the sake of addressing the energy problem in Africa.

AFREC's Interim Executive Director reiterated his joy for the organization of the 1st AFREC Seminar on Energy Efficiency in the Republic of RWANDA, expressing his profound gratitude to Her Excellency Ms Secretary in charge of energy and water for hosting the event and expressed his thanks to the Representative of the IEA, AFREC's partner who provides the usual support to AFREC for the development of African experts' abilities while welcoming and wishing good seminar to all the participants.

Mrs. Mafalda Silva, the representative of the International Energy Agency (IEA) expressed her joy to the Representatives to represent the energy databases and emphasized that, during this seminar; exchanges would be made on the main aspects of the energy efficiencies like the SDG77 which is a great opportunity for national and international statistics. She also stressed on the fact that access to energy is achieved through the availability of effective energy policies; which can be achieved through getting national and international debates encouraged and enlightened. She added that, nowadays, it is necessary to have access to modern affordable energy in the development process. IEA works in collaboration with Africa by means of a database in order to be able to finalize energy development.

The representative of the IEA emphasized that in the Energy Efficiency Program the IEA believes that capacity building needs to evolve on a large scale. Countries are already collecting energy data and the AFREC questionnaire has been consulted by these latter, they can now hand it over to AFREC. For instance, Burkina Faso worked very well and was congratulated by the IEA. She explained that Africa is a region where energy field must be experimented because Energy drives the environment and this is the reason for which the IEA, among so many other agreements in this context, has signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Ministry of Energy, Mines and Sustainable Development of the Kingdom of Morocco on energy statistics and exchange of information. Strong discussions were also carried out on the energy field between the IEA and South Africa . Ms Mafalda added that improving statistics in African countries is important, but building energy capacity and fostering strong cooperation between countries is crucial.

In conclusion, she added that all the participants’ role is to aim at setting up strategies and that this 1st Seminar of AFREC would highlight the already achieved programs by countries to have the opinions that help to establish a strong cooperation in the future and to share experiences and good practices, knowing that some challenges would arise. She also highlighted the advantages of energy efficiency and the importance of tracking this latter’s trends through better and more accurate data to bring up to date policy analysis and development in this realm.

The Representative of the Ministry in charge of Energy and Water of the Republic of RWANDA, Eng. Robert Nyamvumba expressed his honor to represent his Ministry in charge of Energy and Water of RWANDA and on behalf of his Minister, Mrs. Germaine Kamayirese, he congratulated the African Union and the African Commission of Energy for the organization of this important Seminar on Energy Efficiency and to have chosen the Country of RWANDA for its holding.

He explained that access to energy represents a great potential and energy economy contributes to the popular economies. RWANDA plans to promote several sectors in parallel with the energy sector by 2050, and it is important to emphasize that the partnership with AFREC, the IEA and the Governments allowed many successes to be achieved to this date; these were successes that have been praised by the World Bank.

The Representative of the Ministry of Energy and Water of the Republic of Rwanda reiterated his thanks to AFREC for choosing Rwanda to host the organization of its Seminar and welcomed all the attendance.

Representative of the Ministry of Energy and Water of the Republic of Rwanda Declared the Seminar open. .

For more Information:
Mr. Atef MARZOUK, Interim Executive Director of African Energy Commission (AFREC)
E-mail: marzouka@africa-union.org Website: www.afrec-energy.org Algiers, Algeria
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