Eng. Tarek El Molla, Minister of Petroleum and Mineral Resources:
The Balanced Vision of President of El Sisi towards Energy Transition in Africa was Highly Appreciated and Received
On 24th March 2022, Eng. Tarek El Molla, Minister of Petroleum and Mineral Resources, announced that His Excellency President El Sisi call last February during the Egypt Petroleum Show "EGYPS", was highly appreciated and received, where he highlighted the need to reach a balanced vision for Africa in energy transition that consider the African continent's special circumstances and capabilities.
El Molla during his virtual participation in the ministerial panel "Post COP26 Priorities: Supporting Africa's Clean Energy Transitions", praised the conference and session importance in supporting Africa and its vision of energy transition, through the distinguished participants. He mentioned that the African continent is blessed with a wealth of natural resources, in addition to significant renewable energy potentials. Despite this, the continent is lagging behind development and welfare and over 600 million citizens suffer from energy poverty, moreover, the continent is still heavily depending on primary sources of energy, which results in premature fatalities and injuries.
He also noted that fossil fuels also represent a main source of revenues for several African countries, access to finance and technologies to make energy resources cleaner, along with building capacities. He added that Egypt is leading the efforts towards the development of an African energy transition and climate initiative to be launched during COP27, hosted by Egypt next November in Sharm El Sheikh.
African Union and African Energy Ministers Develop the Egyptian Initiative for Energy Transition in Africa
The Minister declared that the Egyptian initiative aims to achieve a balanced and just energy transition that does not cause serious harm to our planet, while recognizing the continent differentiated responsibilities. It is worth mentioning that Egypt aspires for COP27 to be an implementation one, endeavoring to reach Paris agreement goals.
Today's gathering comes at a critical time, not only for the energy industry, but also for the whole world. Global energy markets have been put to the test during the past two years, because of the pandemic, which resulted in what we witness today of unprecedented record prices for oil and gas.
In his speech, El Molla strongly urged to make use of the fruitful relations between the IEA and the African Union Commission to develop solutions, road maps and mobilize the appropriate technologies and finance to support energy transitions in Africa.
The ministerial panel, held at the OECD headquarter in Paris, had Leila R. Benali, Minister of Energy Transition and Sustainable Development, Kingdom of Morocco, Nobuhle Nkabane (MP), Deputy Minister of Mineral Resources and Energy, South Africa, Olivier Mwenze Mukaleng, Minister of Water Resources and Electricity, Democratic Republic of Congo.
The European Commissioner:
Priority for Supporting Development in Africa
Kadri Simson, EU Energy Commissioner, announced in her speech during the ministerial panel that the EU leaders in their meeting, last month at Brussels, agreed on new priorities for sustainable growth in the African continent and investing 150 million euros in the African green initiative. Everyone knows that after the Ukraine crisis, we need to reshape the European status, getting rid of our dependence on Russia on fossil fuel and put forward a plan on how to do that.
The session concluded a number of recommendations: Africa should become one and to be seen from a global perspective. Emphasizing on energy transition, using best practices, focusing on promising technologies for example the potential of hydrogen in Africa. Identifying practical actions in industry, government and international mechanism such as drive down energy costs and accelerate energy investments in the continent. Strengthening international actions to remove barriers to investments to facilitate applying clean energy across the continents.
Minister of Petroleum participating in the IEA -2
