New Zealand to co-host Pacific summit to push renewable energy
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E-mail Xinhua, August 29, 2012
New Zealand to co-host Pacific summit to push renewable energy
RAROTONGA, Cook Islands, Aug. 28 (Xinhua) -- New Zealand is to co-host a Pacific regional energy summit aimed at achieving "a quantum leap forward" in replacing the use of fossil fuels with clean and affordable energy, Foreign Affairs Minister Murray McCully announced Tuesday.
McCully said the conference would be a legacy of New Zealand's year as Pacific Islands Forum (PIF) chair, which ended Tuesday in the Cook Islands, designed to translate renewable energy talk into action.
"At last year's forum in Auckland, leaders made a strong commitment to the promotion of clean and affordable energy through the Waiheke Declaration on Sustainable Economic Development," McCully said in a statement.
"In the past 12 months, Pacific countries have made considerable progress towards energy independence.
"To keep up this momentum and create opportunities for further investments in energy efficiency and renewable energy, New Zealand and the European Union will host a Pacific regional energy summit early next year," he said.
The World Bank, Asian Development Bank, and Australia have agreed to co-sponsor this event in New Zealand in April.
"The summit is designed to connect development partners, private sector investors and Pacific countries to help fast-track the region's conversion to renewable energy sources," he said.
"We are talking to other partners, such as the United States, United Arab Emirates and Japan, and welcome participation from a wide range of partners."
The summit would be held in New Zealand in April 2013.
New Zealand was in the process of designing an assistance package valued at 10.5 million NZ dollars (8.42 million U.S. dollars) for the Cook Islands for the construction of renewable electricity systems on Rarotonga and the outer islands.
The Cook Islands and Tuvalu were aiming to generate 100 percent of their electricity from renewable sources by 2020. Tonga also had one of the largest solar plants in the Pacific. Enditem
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