NAIROBI, July 28 (Xinhua) -- Energy experts from Eastern and Southern Africa including Indian Ocean region are set to meet in Nairobi from Monday to seek ways of enhancing energy market sustainability, organizers said on Saturday.
The four-day meeting organized by Africa's largest trading bloc, the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA) will review progress on the implementation of the project's first-year work program (2017-2018) and adopt the work plan and budget for the second year 2018-2019.
The meeting comes as five regional economic communities have begun implementing a new project on enhancing energy market sustainability.
The Enhancement of a Sustainable Energy Market in Eastern Africa, Southern Africa and Indian Ocean (EA-SA-IO) region (ESREM) is a 7 million euros project funded by the European Union.
"The overall objective of the project is to create a regional energy market that is conducive to investment and sustainable energy development," COMESA said in a statement issued in Nairobi.
"ESREM is a 7 million euros project funded by the EU to address market governance and regulatory related challenges affecting the implementation of energy development projects in the region," it said.
The project will run for four years since the signing of the grant delegation agreement with COMESA in May 2017.
Members of the Project Steering Committee that will meet in Nairobi comprise of energy experts from five participating regional economic communities (RECs) - COMESA, the East African Community (EAC,) Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD), the Southern Africa Development Community (SADC) and the Indian Ocean Commission (IOC).
Others are the regional associations of energy regulators, the Regional Power Pools, Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency Centres and the European Union Delegations to the three sub-regions.
According to the bloc, prior to the energy experts meeting, an awareness training for regional journalists and communication experts from the participating organizations will be conducted on Monday as part of the project's communication and visibility strategy.
"Communication experts from the RECs, ministries of energy, energy associations and power pools will participate in the one-day training and visit a renewable energy project. Journalists from Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Rwanda, and Burundi will also attend the training," it said.
