High Level Policy Dialogue to promote RE and EE in the Mediterranean Region- First Working Session

January 30, 2018- Barcelona- Spain: Gathering a unique mix of expertise and representatives, the first working session of the “High Level Policy Dialogue to promote RE and EE in the Mediterranean region” was launched in Barcelona, Spain.

The High Level Policy Dialogue (HLPD) is the Sustainable Energy platform that brings together high-level representatives from international financing institutions, banks, private sector, international and regional organizations and governments. It shed the light on the need of regional cooperation between various stakeholders in the North Africa and the Middle East countries to facilitate sustainable investments in the Renewable Energy (RE) and Energy Efficiency (EE) sectors in the region.

The session was organized by RCREEE under the EU funded project “meetMED” activities at UFM Energy Platforms Annual Meetings on 30 January 2018.

The session kicked off with welcome notes from the European Commission Head of “International Relations & Enlargement” Unit, Ms. Anne-Charlotte Bournoville and RCREEE Executive Director Dr. Ahmed Badr.

RCREEE Planning Director, Eng Ashraf Kraidy explained possible intervention areas of the HLPD and how it encourages the exchange of various stakeholder’s experiences to come up with a list of bankable renewable energy and energy efficiency projects in the Mediterranean region. In the session, RCREEE proposed a number of business models to enable investments upscaling, finance securing and business stability.

Following Eng. Kraidy’s presentation, a very enriching discussion took place with interventions from representatives from the private sector, banking and funding institutions, namely EIB, EBRD, KfW, AFD, FMO, Islamic Development Bank and SNC lavalin on the most important lessons learnt on green finance in the Mediterranean region.

At the end of the session, Dr. Badr confirmed that HLPD will continue in a series of sessions to reach an initial list of bankable projects, ideally based on countries’ National Determined Contributions.  He also emphasized on the preferred business model to create a “one stop shop” investment facility for RE and EE investments through pilot projects in targeted countries in the Southern Mediterranean in partnership with European DFIs private sector developers and RCREEE.

Acting as HLPD secretariat, RCREEE/meetMED started preparations of the next HLPD session planned to take place in June 2019 in Egypt.

About the Regional Center for Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency (RCREEE)

The Regional Center for Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency (RCREEE) is an intergovernmental organization with diplomatic status that aims to enable and increase the adoption of renewable energy and energy efficiency practices in the Arab region. RCREEE teams with regional governments and global organizations to initiate and lead clean energy policy dialogues, strategies, technologies and capacity development in order to increase Arab states’ share of tomorrow’s energy. Having today 17 Arab countries among its members, RCREEE strives to lead renewable energy and energy efficiency initiatives and expertise in all Arab states based on five core strategic impact areas: facts and figures, policies, people, institutions, and finance.

For more, please visit RCREEE .

About meetMED project

The Mitigation Enabling Energy Transition in the Mediterranean region (meetMED) project is a two-years EU-funded project, developed by the Mediterranean Association of the National Agencies for Energy Management (MEDENER) and the Regional Centre for Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency (RCREEE) to support regional cooperation and build technical capacity for energy transition in Southern and Eastern Mediterranean (SEM) countries.

meetMED has been officially launched in May 2018 at the headquarters of the Union for the Mediterranean (UfM) in Barcelona, Spain. Its main goal is to foster energy transition in the SEM countries, by enhancing the share of Renewable Energy Sources (RES) and Energy Efficiency (EE) in their energy mix.

The meetMED secretariat is coordinating the implementation of the project, which articulates in four workstreams: 1) assessing EE and RES strategies and policies; 2) advancing vocational training and public awareness; 3) attracting sustainable investments in RES and EE; 4) supporting the UfM Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency Platform.