Thursday, October 28, 2010

Building Partnership for Implementing Renewable Energy Efficiency Projects in the Mekong Region-forum

In October 26-27 we attended a regional forum on ”Building Partnership for Implementing Renewable Energy Efficiency Projects in the Mekong Region”. The forum was organized in the framework of the EEP Mekong (Energy and Environment Programme) supported by the Ministry for Foreign Affairs of Finland and Nordic Development Fund. The event was hosted by the Ministry of Energy and Mines of Lao PDR.

In the opening session of the Forum the Finnish Under-Secretary of State, Ritva Koukku-Ronde, the Vice-Minister of Energy and Mines of Lao PDR, Somboun Rasasombath and the Deputy Director of Nordic Development Fund, Leena Klossner, each held a speech.

Among the attendants of the Forum were of course the teams of the seven EEP Mekong projects getting funding in the first round of the EEP Mekong- one of which being our INES- project which Jyrki Luukkanen presented in an EEP project session. In addition, the policies and strategies for renewable energy and energy efficiency of the four Mekong countries were presented in a country report session. Nordic technology providers were also represented at the Forum and a Public Private Partnership (PPP) session was also held to discuss the challenges and achievements of the PPP. In addition, there was also a panel discussion on bio-fuels.

The Forum was a great opportunity to network with other operators in the region and to learn about the other six first round EEP Mekong projects.