L-PAC Meeting of Afghanistan Rural Energy Market Transformation Initiative Held

The L-PAC meeting of Afghanistan Rural Energy Market Transformation Initiative was held on October 20, 2020 in the conference room of the Ministry of Rural Rehabilitation and Development (MRRD).

The meeting was attended by Deputy Minister of Programs of MRRD, the General Deputy Director of the National Environment Protection Agency (NEPA), Senior Deputy Country Director of UNDP, Program Directors of MRRD, UNDP’s Programme Analyst and representatives of key stakeholders involved in energy sector.

Mr. Popal Habibi, the Deputy Minister for programs of MRRD delivered the opening remarks. He thanked UNDP, NEPA and other institutions who helped with the proposal development for the project. The Deputy Minister hoped that the project will be a starting point for much GCF-funded projects in the country. He pointed out the importance of electricity and stated that the project will significantly contribute to environmental protection and mitigation of adverse effects of climate change. The Deputy Minister asked for the continued cooperation and coordination of relevant stakeholders during the project implementation and gave assurance of the Ministry’s capacity to implement the project in the best possible manner in his remarks

The Deputy Director General of NEPA, Mr. Idrees Malyar, talked regarding the importance of the project and stated that the project will lay the foundation for the next GCF-funded projects in the country. Mr. Malyar expressed NEPA’s willingness and interest to fully cooperate during the project implementation and emphasized on adopting a collaborative approach among relevant stakeholders in order to ensure effective implementation of the project.

Ms. Surayo Buzurukova, the Senior Deputy Country Director of UNDP in Afghanistan explained that the objective of the L-PAC meeting is to get inputs and feedback from the key relevant stakeholders on the project. Ms. Buzurukova expressed UNDP’s continued commitment to cooperate with the energy sector in Afghanistan and stated the need for implementation of more and larger energy projects for the rural areas of the country. Detailed presentation on the background, goal, objectives, approach and activities of Afghanistan Rural Energy Market Transformation Initiative was then delivered by ASERD Project Manager, Mohammad Ajmal Shinwari, UNDP’s Programme Analyst, Nilofar Malik, and ASERD Senior Technical Advisor, Ram Gobinda Yadav, to the participant.

The presentation was followed by a question and answer session where responses were provided to questions raised by meeting participants. The meeting ended with closing remarks by MRRD’s Deputy Minister, NEPA’s Deputy Director General and UNDP’s Senior Deputy Country Director. They all thanked participants for their active involvement and stated that we will witness the formal start of project activities in the very near future. The 5-year Afghanistan Rural Energy Market Transformation Initiative will be implemented by MRRD with financial support from the Green Climate Fund (GCF) and the technical support from UNDP.