Moroccan-Ethiopian Talks to Accelerate “Alliance for Access to Sustainable Energy”

Aziz Rabbah, Minister of Energy, Mines and Environment, recently held talks with the Ethiopian Minister of Water and Energy, Seleshi Bekele, via videoconference, in preparation for the work of the Moroccan-Ethiopian alliance to access sustainable energy.

According to a communiqué of the Ministry of Energy, Mines and the Environment, these talks, which took place in the presence of the Ethiopian Minister Delegate for Energy,  Frehiwot Woldehana, and the President and Director General of the Moroccan Solar Energy Agency (Masen), Mustapha Bakkoury, mainly dealt with the progress made in the works aimed at implementing this alliance.

The communiqué indicated that the two parties were briefed on the final stage of governance projects and the road map for the aforementioned coalition, adding that the two sides also agreed to launch a phase of mobilizing strategic partners for the technical and legal establishment of the coalition secretariat, and work to mobilize the necessary funds by the end of the current year.

According to the same source, the detailed work plan for 2021 was also approved.

At the conclusion of the meeting, Rabbah and Bekele called on technical teams in the two countries to continue their work and consultations in order to hold the first meeting of the advisory council and launch the alliance as soon as possible, within the horizon of the actual launch of its legal structure, on the sidelines of the high-level dialogue that will be held next September in New York, and the organization of the first practical activities on the occasion of the “COP26” conference scheduled to be held next November in Glasgow.

It is noteworthy that the alliance was announced during the Climate Action Summit in 2019, on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly, with the aim of ensuring universal access to sustainable energy in the least developed and other developing countries, in line with the 2030 Agenda.