15-16 April 2008

The Seminar “Energy efficiency, demand-side management, and renewable energy - The sustainable way” was successfully organised on 15-16 April 2008 in Brussels by the INOGATE Technical Secretariat, with the support of the European Commission. This event was a milestone in the development of the INOGATE Programme as this was the first time that energy efficiency and renewable energy policies were singled out as specific themes to be addressed at a seminar organised in the framework of INOGATE. This innovation was line with the directions agreed at the Astana Ministerial Conference in November 2006 where more emphasis was placed on enhancing cooperation in sustainable energy development.

The overall aim of the Seminar was to provide participants from INOGATE Partner Countries with all the required background in understanding the key drivers of sustainable development, designing relevant policies, implementing strategies and creating relevant national programmes tailor-made to suit the individual domestic requirements. 

The Seminar was attended by high-level representatives of the Ministries of Energy and the Energy Regulatory Authorities of the INOGATE Partner Countries, namely Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyz Republic, Moldova, Tajikistan, Turkey, Ukraine and Uzbekistan. The participants benefited from a wide range of experiences shared by speakers from German Government, the International Energy Agency, the United Nations Environment Programme, the EBRD and the EIB, the German and of the Spanish Energy Efficiency Agencies, the European Renewable Energy Council, industrial representatives such as Siemens and Honeywell, and Commission's institutions.

Some of the key themes addressed during the Seminar included:

·        Obtaining strong and sustained political commitment as a prerequisite for successfully introducing energy efficiency and renewable energy as part of the country’s fuel mix

·        Adopting coherent, stable, sustainable energy policy frameworks with a long-term perspective;

·        Creating implementing bodies / agencies such as Energy Efficiency Agencies

·        Developing and implementing programmes / initiatives for:

o       energy efficiency – in industry, buildings and transport

o       renewable energy – technologies, programmes and partnerships

·        Providing a variety of financing schemes for the implementation of programmes / initiatives / action plans

The event provided an open forum of discussions between energy actors from the EU and the INOGATE Partner Countries and facilitated networking opportunities for the future continued exchanges on issues of sustainable energy development.

The documentation and presentations from the Seminar can be downloaded here.

For more information on the Seminar results, please contact the INOGATE Secretariat:

INOGATE Technical Secretariat Kyiv

26/28 Koudriavska Str., Kyiv 04053, Ukraine

Tel: +380.44.2302754, Fax: +380.44.2302753