Mediterranean Solar Plan Master Plan: Meeting with the Minister of Energy and Mineral Resources of Jordan

Amman, 4 July, 2013. Today, the UfM Deputy Secretary General for Energy, Teresa Ribeiro, held a working meeting with the Minister of Energy and Mineral Resources of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, H.E. Malek Kabariti. Discussions focused on the Ministerial Meeting on Energy that will be held in Brussels on 11 December 2013.

It is expected that the Ministerial Meeting on Energy officially endorses the Mediterranean Solar Plan (MSP) Master Plan. The MSP Master Plan will constitute the first comprehensive official strategy document exclusively concerned with region-specific renewable energy and energy efficiency issues and is jointly developed by the main stakeholders of both sides of the Mediterranean. The MSP Master Plan is a joint mid-term policy roadmap that will provide clear guidance on what needs to be done to develop dynamic, regionally integrated and self-sustained markets for renewable energy and energy efficiency technologies, strengthen the inter-connections between the electricity systems of the member states and thereby facilitate the roll-out of safe, secure, clean, non-exhaustible, and non-polluting energies, thus paving the way to a larger exchange of green electricity around and across the Mediterranean.

The MSP master plan will also provide a basis and framework for the activities that the UfM is pursing in the energy field, namely helping to propose, develop, and implement:

• A combination of different financial support tools allowing for a targeted reduction of financing costs
• Pilot projects allowing for a testing of policies and instruments
• Common working platforms that will allow the exchange of experiences and know-how
• Capacity development and other cooperation mechanism facilitating the transfer of know-how and the development of capabilities at all levels.

During her visit to Amman, Teresa Ribeiro participated as keynote speaker in the High Level Meeting on Sustainable energy in the Middle East and North Africa: Renewables, Efficiency and Regional Cooperation, organized by the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan and the Energy Charter Secretariat. The meeting offered the opportunity to present the vision and activities of the Union for the Mediterranean in the field of renewable energy and energy efficiency. The UfM Deputy Secretary General for Energy also had the opportunity to meet with other participants in the meeting from UN ESCWA (United Nations Economic and Social Committee for Western Asia), the Energy Charter Secretariat, IRENA, RCREEE, etc. She also met with representatives of the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources, the Ministry of Planning and International Cooperation, the National Center for Research and Development and the National Energy Research Center.