Africa-EU Energy Partnership
The Forum will be the main driver of the expansion of the scope of the Partnership by facilitating dialogue amongst the stakeholders in order to achieve progress on the AEEP 2020 Political Targets by actively involving the European and African private sector, civil society, and research institutions in the partnership.
The Forum provides a platform to explore opportunities and potential synergies evolving from the participation of the stakeholder groups together with key political decision-makers. The physical meeting is envisaged to take place in South Africa in May 2012 and will host approximately 300 AEEP stakeholder participants from civil society, research and private sector, as well as policy makers, public officials and financial sector representatives.
The Forum will be an opportunity to bring together all relevant stakeholder groups to jointly explore the potential of implementing “actions on the ground” and to discuss and communicate key issues as well as recommendations to political decision-makers. Within the framework of the AEEP 2020 Political Targets, the Forum will focus particularly on renewable energy solutions and advance knowledge & technology cooperation in all areas.
Another goal of the Forum will be to make a final decision on the representatives (termed “focal points”) of the respective stakeholder groups and the development of a mechanism that allows involving the three stakeholder groups in the workings of the AEEP on a regular basis.
The first Stakeholder Planning Meeting took place in Vienna, Austria, on 20th June 2011, to help plan the AEEP Forum. By the end of the meeting a number of main areas of focus were identified, which form the main topics of this E-Consultation, as well as the establishment of European and African Focal points serving as coordinators throughout the preparation phase of the Forum.
Since June 2011, EUREC Agency is involved in the Africa-EU Energy Partnership as a stakeholder representing the European Research Community.The focal point for the European Research Community is Sandor Szabo, from the European Commission-Joint Research Centre, Institute of Energy.
More information on the AEEP is available on: http://www.africa-eu-partnership.org/energy
More information about the Forum and the e-consultation is available on: http://aeepforum.energypedia.info/index.php/How_the_Forum_Works
For more information on EUREC's involvement in the AEEP, contact Paola Mazzucchelli (mazzucchelli.p@eurec.be).
