The 2nd Workshop on Regional Energy Trade in the ECO Region, organized in cooperation and with the financial assistance of Energy Sector Management/Assistance Program under the auspices of the World Bank, was held on 10-11 November 2008 in Almaty, the Republic of Kazakhstan.
The delegations from 9 member states (Afghanistan, Azerbaijan, Iran, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Pakistan, Tajikistan, Turkey, and Uzbekistan) participated at the Workshop as well as ECO Secretariat staff. The representatives of the World Bank, European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), Inter Governmental Council Secretariat of Central Asia South Asia Regional Electricity Market (CASAREM), and International Finance Corporation (IFC) also participated at the Workshop.
All participating delegations made their presentations/statements, in particular describing their interest in electricity/energy trade; developments in their energy trade and investment policies, regulations, pricing, etc. to promote electricity exports/imports; surpluses to export or demand to import electricity; specific investment projects in transmission and generation - whether in their own country or in other countries in the region - which may increase the trade in electricity, etc., as a basis for discussions to follow.
After thorough discussion on the subject field, the workshop made the following recommendations with consensus:
ECO should place higher emphasis on electricity trade with the eastern cluster of ECO countries and beyond, in view of (a) significant energy deficits being experienced in that part ECO membership and (b) more apparent seasonal demand complementarities”.
The delegates felt that the meeting on regional energy trade should be held more frequently – at least annually – to ensure that momentum for regional cooperation in energy is maintained. It was also suggested that further meetings would be hosted by a member country and that the cost of the meeting would be shared by the Host Country – with the possible support of the international financial institutions such as the World Bank.
In terms of the Work program, given the keen interest expressed by delegates to be knowledgeable about the energy systems, policy framework and institutional framework of the each country of ECO, the delegates agreed that each country
will prepare a sector report for their respective countries prior to the next meeting / workshop. To ensure consistency and proper coverage, the World Bank team would recommend a draft outline, to be agreed by the member countries, for the sector reports and share it with the ECO countries. Also the World Bank team will pull together a concise report of ECO Countries based on the country’ reports.
There is keen interest in understanding the finance-ability of cross-border projects, which has been dealt with in the report released at the workshop. In the next workshop, a session would be devoted to discuss this aspect in more depth.
In closing, the Turkish and Pakistani delegations asked for expediting preparation of the final report of Feasibility Study on Interconnection of Power Systems of ECO Countries while requesting the member states to provide the Pakistani Consultant with the requisite information needed for so that the report could be finalized within the deadline.
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