Senator Lhou Lmarbouh (Morocco) has participated on behalf of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Mediterranean (PAM) at the 3rd MEDREG-IMME Seminar on Reform and Opening of Maghreb Electricity Markets, held in Tunis on 11-12 September, 2013. The event discussed primarily the progressive integration of the electricity markets of Algeria, Morocco and Tunisia within the internal electricity market of the European Union.
Energy issues are among the priority topics of the PAM Panel on Trade and Investments in the Mediterranean, which is handled through the Working Group on Sustainable Development aimed also at tackling the various aspects related to the development of a coordinated network of legislations and further structured cooperation in renewable and green energy.
In his intervention at the first session of the Seminar, dedicated to the setting-up and the missions of regulatory authorities in the phase of opening up competition, Sen. Lmarbouh underlined that energy represents a crucial resource particularly in the Mediterranean region, not only in relation to economic development but also with political stability within the national borders and in the region as a whole.
“For this reason, the role of national and regional parliaments acquires a strong strategic importance in contributing in the process of the establishment of independent regulatory authorities in order to guarantee a stable, efficient and integrated energy market in the Mediterranean region”, Sen. Lmarbouh added.
In the conclusions of the seminar, Eng. Alessandro Ortis, MEDREG Honorary President and Co-Chairman of the PAM Panel, remarked that the energy sector needs further integration at the South-South and North-South levels, and while traditional resources must be better managed, more work is needed to strengthen the distribution network to guarantee a solid, efficient and functional grid to support local and regional economic and social development.