COMESA and ARE sign on renewable electrification across 21 member states
The Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa and the Alliance for Renewable Electrification signed a memorandum of understanding in Brussels on Thursday, covering electrification, investment and energy access across a bloc of 21 countries and an industry body representing more than 170 renewable energy companies.
Twenty-one member states with a combined population above 640 million sit on one side of the agreement signed in Brussels on Thursday, and on the other an industry body federating more than 170 renewable energy companies with combined turnover exceeding €58 billion.
The memorandum was signed at ARE’s Green Industrialisation Days, the gathering where the association’s members work on renewable projects for commercial and industrial businesses in emerging markets.
Work under it covers joint knowledge products, training workshops and study tours, with private sector input channelled into COMESA’s policy work rather than arriving after decisions are made.
Project preparation is the other half, with both organisations working on investment readiness so developers build bankable pipelines, alongside matchmaking at industry events.
“Energy is the backbone of regional integration and industrial development,” said Ambassador Dr Mohamed Kadah, COMESA’s Assistant Secretary General for Programmes, who tied the bloc’s access and energy security targets to private sector delivery. ARE’s chief executive David Lecoque described the agreement as putting policymakers and industry at the same table so more projects reach financing.
Zambia and Zimbabwe are both COMESA member states, which places the agreement across the two markets meeting in Livingstone in November.
Images: ARE
