Second meeting of the Task Force on regional electricity cooperation in Central and South Asia

Six countries from Central and South Asia have held the first meeting of a Task Force on Regional Electricity Cooperation at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan in Kabul on 18 November 2007. The meeting was organised by the Energy Charter Secretariat and the Government of Afghanistan, with financial assistance from the Government of Norway.

The meeting was opened by the First Vice President of Afghanistan, H.E. Mr Ahmad Zia Massoud, who underlined the importance of establishing links in the power sector between economies with high energy demand in South Asia and the energy-rich countries of Central Asia, based on the shared interest in bringing prosperity to the people of the region.

Delegations from Afghanistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Pakistan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan agreed a declaration (the 'Kabul Declaration on Promoting Regional Electricity Cooperation between Central and South Asia') in which they resolved to work towards a joint understanding of the legal and technical framework for regional power trade, based on the principles of the Energy Charter and the provisions of the Energy Charter Treaty.

They also proposed that the Energy Charter's Model Agreements, currently developed for cross-border oil and gas pipelines, should be adapted to provide a basis for cross-border electricity projects. This proposal will be on the agenda of the Energy Charter Conference, the Charter's governing body, at its forthcoming meeting in Istanbul on 7 December 2007.

The Istanbul Conference will also be considering a request from Afghanistan for accession to the 1994 Energy Charter Treaty. Afghanistan became an observer to the Energy Charter in November 2006, and the same meeting of the Charter Conference approved a request from Pakistan to accede to the Treaty. The other participants in the Kabul meeting, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan, are all full Contracting Parties to the Treaty.

The Kabul meeting follows on from an initial high-level workshop that took place in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan in April 2007 (for more information see news below). The next meeting of the Task Force is scheduled to take place in Dushanbe, Tajikistan in spring 2008. Background information on the power sectors of all the participating countries is available in a report on regional electricity cooperation, prepared in 2007 for the Energy Charter Secretariat and available on this website as an 'Occasional Paper'.

Programme and Presentations

Welcome speeches and opening remarks

Opening Remarks and Recitation from Holy Quran

H.E. Ahmad Zia Masoud, First Vice President, Islamic Republic of Afghanistan

Ms. Merete Dyrud, Chargé d'Affaires, Royal Norwegian Embassy in the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan

Introduction to the workshop

Mr. Ralf Dickel, Director of Trade, Transit and Relation with Non-signatories, the Energy Charter Secretariat

Session 1. Country Presentations

Hydro Power and Supply

Mr. A. Sulaimonov, Deputy Minister, Ministry of Energy and Industry of Tajikistan
Slides (in English), Speech (in Russian)

Mr. Akylbek R. Tyumenbaev, Deputy Minister, Ministry of Energy, Industry and Fuel Resources of Kyrgyz Republic
Slides (in Russian), Speech (in Russian)

Transit

HE Hadji Mohammad Ismail Khan, The Minister of Energy and Water (MEW), Islamic Republic of Afghanistan

Demand side

Mr. Qazi Naeem-u-Ddin, Advisor on Regional Power Trade (PEPCO), Ministry of Water and Power, Pakistan

Thermal Electric Systems

Mr. Sergei Katyshev, Director of Project Management Department and Advisor to President of KEGOC, Kazakhstan

Mr. Shukhrat V. Khamidov, Head of Investment Department, Republic of Uzbekistan, State Joint Stock Exchange Company "Uzbekenergo"

Mr. Temur Patarov, Head of Central Dispatch Department of Turkmenenergo, Turkmenistan

Session 2: Regional Electricity Cooperation

South Asian Regional Projects
by Mr. D.N. Raina, India

Central Asia South Asia Regional Electricity Market (CASAREM)
by Ms. Julie Fraser, Senior Financial Analyst, the World Bank

Central Asia Regional Economic Cooperation (CAREC)
by Mr. Rune Stroem, Head of Energy Operations, Central and West Asia, the Asian Development Bank

Central Asia South Asia transmission line (CASA 1000)
by H.E. Mr. M. A. Sediq, Deputy Minister of Energy and Water, Islamic Republic of Afghanistan

Trans-Afghanistan Pipeline (TAPI)
by Mr. Syed Mohammad Jamal Shajan, First Secretary, Embassy of Afghanistan in the Kingdom of Belgium

Session 3: Model Agreements

Model Intergovernmental and Host Government Agreements
by Ms. Thea Khitarishvili, Senior Expert, Energy Charter Secretariat

Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan and Baku-Tbilisi-Erzurum pipeline projects
by Dr. Giorgi Vashakmadze, Director for Energy Security Studies, WEG (Former Director General of the Georgian International Oil Corporation)

Session 4. Concluding Remarks and Way Forward

Panel discussion chaired by Mr. Ralf Dickel, Director of Trade, Transit and Relation with Non-signatories, Energy Charter Secretariat