The "Third International Forum: Energy for Sustainable Development. Capacity building for energy efficiency and access to cleaner energy in Central Asia and neighbouring regions" was held at the Issyk Kul Lake in Kyrgyzstan on 12-14 September 2012. The Forum was organized jointly by the Government of the Kyrgyz Republic, the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE), the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP), and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP)/Global Environment Facility (GEF). Over 130 participants from 22 countries participated in the event. This Forum was a follow-up to the International Energy Efficiency Forums held in 2010 in Astana, Kazakhstan and in 2011 in Dushanbe, Tajikistan.
The Forum has adopted a joint resolution affirming the critical role of international cooperation in improving access to clean and efficient energy for sustainable and inclusive growth and stressing the importance of involvement of all the relevant stakeholders, such as governments, international organizations and financial institutions, private sector, etc.
During the plenary sessions and thematic workshops, the Forum explored a wide range of topics, including the key elements needed to support improvement in energy efficiency and access to cleaner energy in Central Asia and neighboring countries, including formation of favorable policy, investment and market conditions. Experiences and good practices from Asia and Europe, as well as the examples of technological advances in energy efficiency, renewable and cleaner energy were shared and discussed.
One of the thematic workshops of the Forum - Workshop on Legal and Regulatory Frameworks to Promote Energy Efficiency and Cleaner Energy in North and Central Asia - was organized by ESCAP under the project funded by the Russian Federation that has the objective to support development of legal and regulatory frameworks to support energy efficiency and clean energy in North and Central Asia.
Among its outputs this project has development of the open online database of legal and regulatory documents on sustainable use of energy and renewable energy sources from the selected countries in North and Central Asia. The database currently contains approximately 1200 documents from Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russian Federation, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan and reflects existing policy and regulatory framework for energy efficiency (EE) and renewable energy sources development in NCA. The database is being developed to serve as an information tool for policy makers, researchers, project developers and potential investors and it can also be a useful capacity building tool for exchange of experience and information on existing approaches to formulation of new policies and regulations between the countries, and there are plans for further expansion of database to cover more countries of the subregion.
The project is also preparing two studies: Comparative analysis of the policy and regulatory frameworks for the efficient use of energy and renewable energy deployment in the countries of North and Central Asia and Review of the current status and prospects of improving economic instruments for pricing of fuel and energy resources in the context of sustainable development in North and Central Asia. It is expected that their findings will be circulated by the end of 2012.
For more information on the Forum and the Workshop please refer to the agenda, outcome documents and relevant presentations posted below.
For the information and presentations from other Sessions and Workshops of the Forum please refer to: http://www.unece.org
