Almaty, May 24, 2010 -— The World Bank Group held consultations in Central Asia to gather input for a new energy sector strategy, which is expected to be completed in early 2011. The consultative meeting was held in the Almaty World Bank office on May 24, 2010 and connected with participants in Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan through video conference.
The meeting brought together a range of stakeholders, including government officials, representatives from donor, non-governmental organizations, academics, and individuals from the private sector. The Energy Strategy Approach Paper, which outlines the objectives and pillars of a proposed approach, provided a basis for the discussion.
"The inputs received during the Central Asia consultations will help the World Bank improve its work in the energy sector in the years to come," said Masami Kojima, the Lead Energy Specialist for the World Bank Group, who presented the strategy in Almaty."Through this process, stakeholders had an opportunity to share their perspectives on the challenges, opportunities, and potential solutions that will guide our future energy strategy."
These consultations are part of broader global effort to gather input from a wide range of perspectives on how the World Bank Group can best help developing countries improve the access and reliability of energy while helping facilitate the shift to a more environmentally sustainable energy development path. The input collected will be used to produce a draft Energy Strategy document, which will be posted on the web, along with a document outlining how the issues raised during consultations were addressed in the drafting of the strategy paper.
