JOHANNESBURG, South Africa, April 5, 2022/ — Major African energy event Africa Oil Week has announced a globally significant partnership with the African Union (AU) represented by its specialised energy agency, the African Energy Commission (AFREC).
The partnership is a further endorsement of Africa Oil Week (AOW) as a global energy platform and forum for stimulating conversations in the Africa power and energy exploration sector.
As mandated by the African head of states, AFREC’s responsibility is to develop the African energy sector by coordinating, harmonising, protecting, conserving, developing, promoting rational exploitation, commercialisation and integration of energy resources for all AU Member states. AFREC is also entrusted with the obligation to manage the continental energy database- the African Energy Information System (AEIS) and ensure evidence-based policies and regulations are developed in response to challenges facing the development of the African energy sector.
As part of the Africa Oil Week partnership, AFREC will facilitate a ministerial dialogue to help advance Africa’s energy development in line with the commission’s energy transition programme. This programme identifies strategies needed for Africa to achieve a just energy transition in line with AU Agenda 2063, Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and the Paris Agreement.
“Access to affordable clean energy for Africa can be achieved by finding policy tools that balance accessibility, reliability, affordability and low carbon impact,” says AFREC Executive Director Rashid Ali Abdallah. ‘‘We are pleased to work with AOW, to facilitate dialogues with all energy players and we look forward to the important conversations’’, he underlined.”
“For more than 25 years, AOW has brought together governments, oil companies, investors, the exploration community, and service providers. Hence, this partnership is a major breakthrough for Africa Oil Week,” says Paul Sinclair of AOW. “Working with the AFREC will unlock many possibilities to shape a better future for Africa through impactful engagements on energy, in turn will help to realise our vision of enhancing Africa’s energy development’’ he further stressed.
The Africa Oil Week connects more than 50 ministers and government leaders, hundreds of leading speakers and more than 2 000 senior delegates over five days of conferences, exhibitions, and elite networking platforms. This year, the AOW event takes place from October 3-7 in Cape Town, at the Cape Town International Convention Centre.
Africa Oil Week’s sister event, Green Energy Africa Summit (GEA Summit) (https://GreenEnergyAfricaSummit.com) takes place at the same time, at the same venue. The aligned conferences come as Africa faces a redemptive opportunity to use its energy resources to drive economic growth, improve service delivery and move millions of citizens out of poverty.
