PR — National officials and experts gather at the Organization of American
States headquarters in Washington, D.C., next Monday, March 3, for the
Inter-American Meeting of National Authorities and Experts on Energy
for Sustainable Development in the Americas.
OAS Secretary
General José Miguel Insulza will inaugurate the meeting, along with
Chairman of the Joint Working Group of the Permanent Council and
CEPCIDI on the Follow-up of the Declaration of Panama: Energy for
Development, Ambassador Aristides Royo of Panama. The goals of the
event include helping to define a regional agenda to promote widespread
adoption of policies and regulations which will be conducive to the
deployment of new and renewable energy in the Americas. It will focus
as well on energy experiences and best practices that may contribute to
sustainable development in Latin America and the Caribbean.
The
meeting is being held as a follow-up to the June 2007 OAS General
Assembly session in Panama, where the hemisphere’s foreign ministers
issued a Declaration of Panama: Energy for Sustainable Development.
That Declaration underscored the need to generate and strengthen
regional markets for the use of cleaner and renewable energy, and to
exchange information and experiences pertaining to sustainable energy.
The
meeting is also being held against the backdrop of rising energy costs
and amidst the pressing need to lower carbon emissions.
