Cohesive Regional effort needed to close energy gap – Minister Paulwell

While the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) has made significant strides in its quest for sustainable energy security, there must be a cohesive regional effort to achieve more.

This is the view articulated Monday morning by the Hon. Phillip Paulwell, Minister of Science, Technology, Energy and Mining of Jamaica, and Chair of the Fifty-fourth Special Meeting of the Council for Trade and Economic Development on Energy which began at the CARICOM Secretariat in Georgetown, Guyana.

…although sustainable energy solutions have made great strides in our Region, many significant gaps and barriers remain. In the coming decades, these barriers to renewable energy access, energy efficiency, and reliable grid development and deployment must be overcome. Through a cohesive regional effort coordinated and fully supported by each of us member states of CARICOM, I am confident that we will achieve our objectives,” Minister Paulwell told the delegates at the one-day Meeting.

Acknowledging that full transformation of CARICOM’s energy sector will be a long-term process, he, nevertheless urged the Community to remain focused on the priority areas which represented urgent needs and present opportunities for rapid progress.

The Region, he said, was of the view that the policies, projects and initiatives that we were being developed, would result in effective and efficient sustainable energy development, “making our Region a global leader in the production and use of clean, renewable, sustainable energy”.

The COTED’s deliberations, he added, must emphasize the Community’s commitment to make the energy sector more efficient, sustainable and environmentally friendly, while unleashing the tremendous energy potential of the Region.

The opening ceremony was also addressed by the CARICOM Deputy Secretary General, Ambassador Manorma Soeknandan, PhD.