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Dhaka Friday,  Mar 29, 2024

Cross-border Electricity Trade

South Asian energy regulators finalise plan

EB Reporter

South Asian energy regulators in a two-day meeting that concluded in Dhaka yesterday finalised a plan to promote cross-border electricity trade and agreed to remove the regulatory barriers in this regard.

“We had a very successful meeting, and all the regulators finalised a plan of action to address regulatory issues to enhance cross-border electricity trade,” said Chairman of Bangladesh Energy Regulatory Commission AR Khan.

He was briefing journalists on the proceedings of the meeting at a hotel in the capital.

The first-ever “Council of Saarc Energy Regulators” meeting was hosted by the commission.

The Saarc Secretariat extended its full support by sending its Director Mohammad Ibrahim Ghafoori to the conference.

Participants from all eight Saarc nations — Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, the Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka — discussed different issues, particularly a decision of the last Saarc meeting in Kathmandu to enhance cross-border electricity trade.

AR Khan said the Saarc region has a huge potential to generate electricity, and its energy consumption is the lowest in the world.

So, we discussed how the Saarc nations can easily buy electricity from each other through cross-border trade,” he added.

The meeting adopted a nine-point resolution, including sharing of knowledge, experiences and expertise among the officials of the Saarc nations and recommendations for forming a regional energy regulatory body under a Saarc umbrella.

AR Khan said the decisions and resolutions of the meeting will be put forward to the governments of the member countries through the Saarc Secretariat.“These will take final shape after endorsement by the Saarc nations,” he added.

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