Murree, December 20 (TNS): Ministry of Planning, Development & Reform organized a two-days meeting of the Review Committee to deliberate and finalize draft ‘National Action Plan for Sustainable Energy for All’ at Bhurban.
The event was facilitated by UNDP Pakistan being the global partner for SE4ALL initiative.
The meeting was attended by representatives of Petroleum Division & Power Division of Ministry of Energy, representatives of provincial and regional energy departments from Azad Jammu & Kashmir, Gilgit-Baltistan, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Punjab and Sindh as well as private sector representatives attended the two-day session.
SE4ALL is one of the 17 interconnected goals of the Sustainable Development Goals, commonly referred to as “Global Goals”, are part of the United Nations development action to end poverty, addresses issues relating to climate change, economic inequality, innovation, sustainable consumption, peace and justice, among other priorities by setting various goals by 2030.
The SE4ALL initiative focuses on following targets with time frame till 2030 focusing on Ensuring universal access to affordable, clean and modern energy services, Doubling the rate of improvement in energy efficiency and Doubling the share of renewable energy in the energy mix of the country.
Pakistan has made advance progress vis-à-vis development of national actin plan for SE4ALL. Pakistan joined the global initiative in 2013. Subsequently, a Rapid Assessment and Gap Analysis (RAGA) of Pakistan was conducted in same year after inclusive consultative process between all stakeholders. It was followed by a second phase wherein UNDP launched the Country Situation Assessment.
In third Phase, Planning Commission, Ministry of Planning, Development & Reform was designated as focal Ministry to initiate preparation of National Action Plan for SE4ALL in April 2015. A Review Committee was constituted to review and finalize the findings in the National Action Plan report which held its meeting in Bhurbhan in December, 2017.
The Secretary Planning Commission Mr. Shoaib Ahmed Siddiqui in his concluding remarks appreciated the efforts and stated that preparation of national action plan in energy sector under the ambit of SDG is one of the strategic achievement of the present government. He acknowledged that the draft report is an outcome of the consultative process and accentuated that the representatives of the Ministry of Energy and provincial representative must appraise the progress respective federal and provincial secretaries so that they have a pre-hand knowledge and are aware of the progress as and when final report is launched after approval of SE4ALL Steering Committee and National Economic Council. The final report is expected to be launched formally during the last week of January, 2018.
