UNESCAP, in partnership with UNDP, Bangkok, organized a three-day Expert Group Meeting (EGM) on the integration of Energy and Rural Development Policies and Programmes during 25-27 June 2003 in Bangkok. Primary objectives of the EGM were to analyze linkages between energy and rural development, to exchange information on existing procedures and institutional structures for developing and implementing rural energy policies and programmes, and to discuss options for more comprehensive approaches to rural energy development.

Approximately 50 participants, including government officials and non-governmental organization representatives from eleven countries, actively discussed and shared their country experiences in energy and rural development planning. Delegates from other UN agencies such as the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP), the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), and the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) also participated in the EGM. For a full programme of the EGM, please click here.

Highlights of the discussions during the EGM include priority issues in the integration of energy and rural development policies and programmes, stakeholder participation and gender mainstreaming of policy and programme development. Country papers from Bangladesh, Cambodia, Lao PDR, Myanmar, Nepal, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Viet Nam were prepared by participants of respective countries as inputs to the EGM.

The EGM is an activity under the UNESCAP two-year project "Capacity building on the integration of energy and rural development policies and programmes", which aims at developing a coordinated approach to rural energy planning in Asia region. The following sessions were held during the EGM: