Ban Ki-moon announces new leadership for SE4ALL

At the close of a meeting of the High-level Group on Sustainable Energy for All that held in New York on September 24, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon strengthened his commitment to the Sustainable Energy for All (SE4ALL) Initiative by announcing a new leadership arrangement. Dr. Kandeh Yumkella, Director-General of the UN Industrial Development Organization and Chair of UN-Energy, was appointed to serve as Ban Ki-moon’s Special Representative for Sustainable Energy for All and chief executive of the initiative; while World Bank President Dr. Jim Yong Kim was invited to serve with Ban Ki-moon as co-chair of the initiative’s newly formed Advisory Board.

OFID Director-General, Mr. Suleiman J. Al-Herbish, was present at the meeting as a member of the High-level Group tasked with implementing SE4ALL.

The SE4ALL initiative has been gaining momentum since its launch in 2011, as listed below:

Source: UN Sustainable Energy for All websiteOFID and the Energy Poverty Initiative

Alleviating energy poverty is a priority area for OFID. Since 2007 the institution has stepped up its support of energy projects/programs in developing countries since OFID was enjoined by its Member Countries in the Solemn Declaration of the Third OPEC Summit to sharpen its focus in the area. OFID has supported projects that range from the construction and rehabilitation of power plants and installation of natural gas pipelines, to the construction of wind farms and solar energy systems. It has also assumed an advocacy role in energy poverty alleviation by hosting and providing support to key energy meetings and forums.

In June this year, Mr. Al-Herbish announced to Ban Ki-moon during an SE4ALL meeting, which took place as part of the activities of the UN Conference on Sustainable Development (Rio+20), that OFID was committing a minimum of US$1 billion to help address energy poverty alleviation. Additionally, at OFID’s 140th session of its Governing Board, which met on September 12, over US$100 million in public sector loans and grant funding was approved to help bolster the energy sector in partner countries. Read OFID Ministerial Declaration on Energy Poverty

See also:Energy officials meet in Kuwait for 13th IEF and 5th IEBF: OFID Director-General Addresses Forum