The energy regulators in the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (Saarc) countries should establish a forum to periodically share knowledge and experience, said Nasrul Hamid, state minister for power, energy and mineral resources.
Speaking at the inauguration of the first meeting of energy regulators in Saarc countries yesterday, the state minister also said the forum would be the platform where the energy regulators could discuss matters of mutual interest and cross-border energy and power trade issues.
The state minister was the chief guest at the inauguration ceremony of the meeting, which was held at a city hotel yesterday.
Announcement for the meeting was made at the Fifth Saarc Energy Ministers’ Meeting in New Delhi, India in October this year.
“The Saarc leaders at the 12th Saarc Summit in January 2004, emphasised that for accelerated and balanced economic growth, it is essential to strengthen energy cooperation in the region,” he said.
“The Saarc emphasised on the regional energy cooperation by endorsing the concept of an ‘Energy Ring’ of interconnected energy systems in the region,” the state minister said.
During the Fourth Saarc Energy Ministers’ Meeting in September 2011 in Dhaka, Bangladesh offered to host a meeting of energy regulators or bodies in Saarc countries, which was accepted by all the member states.
“The South Asian nations, namely Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, the Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka, have so far lagged far behind their developed counterparts in terms of access to clean, reliable, and affordable energy, especially electricity,” Nasrul said.
“The existing power shortages and growing import of fossil fuels impose a heavy cost of energy insecurity on the region. The energy endowments of South Asia are limited and dispersed across the region, with large unexploited hydro-electric potential in some parts and growing dependence on fossil fuels in others,” he said.
Presided over by Energy and Mineral Resources Division Secretary Abu Bakar Siddique, the meeting was also addressed, among others, by Bangladesh Energy Regulatory Commission Chairman AR Khan.