The key role of National parliaments in setting up the necessary legislative and regulatory frameworks including fiscal measures, to support investments in the renewable energy sector, was underlined in Ouarzazate, Morocco, at the end of the high level parliamentary hearing, Energy Challenges in the Euro-Mediterranean Region, organized by the Parliamentary Assembly of the Mediterranean (PAM), in conjunction with the House of Councilors, under the patronage of H.M. Mohammed VI, King of Morocco. It was also stressed that it is necessary to create a favourable environment among the PAM countries, conducive to support the Mediterranean Solar Plan, to ensure its effectiveness and efficiency.
It was also highly recommended in the conclusions of the international Conference, that PAM should facilitate the establishment of a “Mediterranean Community of Energy”, in order to ensure coordination among the key actors concerned (parliaments, governments, industry, investors), as far as projects based on renewable energy, the reinforcement of national and regional transmission grids, as well as the promotion of investments and clear legal frameworks, are concerned.
The Conference, the first regional parliamentary event taking place at the site of the innovative high-tech power plant in Ouarzazate, based on solar technology, was held within the activities of the PAM Panel on External Trade and Investments in the Mediterranean, and was open to all key stakeholders from international, regional and national industrial and financial institutions. Debates focused on the present status and the challenges being faced by the Euro-Mediterranean region with regard to renewable energy. More than 300 delegates attended the Conference, among which key actors, such as National Authorities and Operators of Renewable Energy, the UN System, the IEA, the Energy Charter and also the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD).
At the meeting, national authorities confronted their plans with colleagues from other countries and exchanged lessons learned, best practices, as well as the need for increasingly high attention by the respective legislative organs.
It was also agreed to set up a Core Group, made up of international organizations, among which, inter alia, PAM, the EBRD, MED-TSO and MEDREG, IEA and IRENA, which will prepare a road map and a series of activities to implement the conclusions reached in Ouarzazate. The Group will meet in Morocco in early 2013.
In their closing remarks, the President of the House of Counsilors of Morocco, the PAM Vice President and the PAM Secretary General, thanked H.M. King Mohammed IV of Morocco for the opportunity offered, and reiterated the political role of the Assembly, whose principal objective is to work towards confidence building, parliamentary diplomacy, security and dialogue among the member parliaments and the states in their wider perspective.