Islamabad, October 01, 2018 (PPI-OT): Within the framework of the UNIDO/GEF project entitled “Sustainable Energy Initiative for Industries”, UNIDO organised twin events marking the concluding of its country wide Training Program on Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency. The event helped in bringing all major stakeholders to present and discuss localisation of UNIDO’s Cluster development approach. Officially opening the first event on concluding of Training program, Mr. Ashfaq Ahmed, GM Small and Medium Enterprise Authority, Ministry of Industries and Production, who was the Chief Guest at the event, applauded the initiative taken by UNIDO and GEF in promoting the adoption role of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy in industrial development.
He said that one could not achieve success without a sustainable supportive environment in Pakistan, which included the human capacity of professional Energy Auditors. Mr. Salman Ahmed, Director Punjab Energy department who was the honorary guest at the event, in his remarks said that the trainings conducted by UNIDO were the need of the time to bring standardization to the capacity building interventions in the country and that his department work to enhance energy efforts would get great help from UNIDO in raising skills and knowledge of its technical teams.
The events were widely attended by various stakeholder, both from the industry and Government officials from relevant Ministry and line departments. Present among the prominent dignitaries were the officials of various relevant ministries as well as representative of various organization like Alternative Energy Development Board (AEDB), National Productivity Organization (NPO), National Energy Efficiency and Conservation Authority (NEECA) and Small and Medium Enterprise Development Authority (SMEDA).
Ms. Nadia Aftab, Country Representative UNIDO, on the occasion, shed light on the role of UNIDO during its nearly 50 years of presence while highlighting some hallmark achievements of UNIDO assisting the sustainable development process of Industrial sector in Pakistan. She stressed upon the importance of training courses for promoting Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency in Pakistan.
In his introductory remarks about the subject, Mr. Carlos Chanduvi, the Project Manager, highlighted the objective of cluster development event as well as pointed out the importance of the UNIDO training program. He appreciated the participation of the all major stakeholders in this event and called on all stakeholders to contribute to the sustainability of the UNIDO’s initiatives. He also stated that trained experts on Energy Efficiency and integrated Energy Management Systems would become ambassadors of the sustainable use of energy in Pakistan.
Mr. Asad Mehmood, Representative of NEECA, Ministry of water and power in his remarks termed the industrial sector in Pakistan as one of the main contributors to the national GDP, as well as a major consumer of energy and electricity, which was characterized by high dependence on fossil fuels. He said that UNIDO’s initiative was a commendable one to unlock indigenous capacity to tap into the great potentials of industrial production of Pakistan.
UNIDO presented key highlights of the recently concluded training program, which gave insight into the various training modules and their objectives and targets. Mr. Masroor Ahmed Khan, national project manager, dwelled on the details of the training program and the corresponding impacts by giving some interesting statistics on conducted trainings.
The participants actively participated in the event and the group discussions on the Cluster development and came up with new ideas in developing clusters for Renewable energy and energy efficiency. Key beneficiaries from the training program representing various sectors, also shared the audiences with their training experiences and informed the benefits that they and their organization received from these trainings. UNIDO officials keenly noted down all the raised ideas and suggestions and thanked the participants for providing their thoughts on the issues that would greatly help UNIDO to better strategize their future plans on sustainable energy projects.
For more information, contact:
National Information Officer
United Nations Information Centre (UNIC)
Islamabad, Pakistan
Tel: +92-51-8355720
Cell: +92-300-8553790
Email: ishrat.rizvi@unic.org