PRESS RELEASE

VIENNA, AUSTRIA, 19 December 2014 – The United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) and the Austrian Development Agency (ADA), the operational unit of Austrian Development Cooperation, today signed a 1.3 million Euro funding agreement for the establishment of the Caribbean Centre for Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency (CCREEE).

The signing ceremony was also attended by representatives of the Small Island Developing States (SIDS) Sustainable Energy and Climate Resilience Initiative – SIDS DOCK, and the Caribbean Community (CARICOM). The signing is in follow up to the Memorandum of Understanding signed on 17 March 2014, by UNIDO, the Government of Austria and SIDS DOCK, to assist SIDS in the Caribbean, Pacific, Africa and Indian Ocean with the establishment of regional sustainable energy centres. The network was officially launched at the UN Third International Conference on SIDS in Samoa, in September 2014. The establishment of the CCREEE was recently endorsed by the Ministerial Meeting of the Council of Trade and Economic Development (COTED) of CARICOM.

“The regional centre for the Caribbean is another good example of our fruitful partnership with Austria. Local companies and industry will benefit from the growing sustainable energy market opportunities, as well as from regional cooperation and South-South and North-South technology and knowledge transfer,” said LI Yong, the Director General of UNIDO.

“The creation of the centre responds to the urgent need for enhanced South-South cooperation and regional capacities to promote sustainable energy investments, markets and industries in the Caribbean. The centre will act locally and internationally as a regional hub and think-tank for sustainable energy issues and activities.”

“We consider the regional centres to be a powerful way to simultaneously address the challenges of energy access, energy security and climate change mitigation in our partner countries. In this context, we would like to thank UNIDO, SIDS DOCK and CARICOM for the excellent cooperation,” said Martin Ledolter, Managing Director of the ADA.

“From early 2015, it is envisioned that the Centre will begin assisting CARICOM in the implementation of the Caribbean Sustainable Energy Roadmap and Strategy (C-SERMS). The Centre will create a critical regional mechanism for  up-scaling national efforts in the areas of project implementation, capacity building, and knowledge management, as well as investment and business promotion in support of the CARICOM Energy Policy”, said Devon Gardner, Head of the CARICOM Energy Unit.

“We consider the network of regional sustainable energy centres as an important contribution to making Sustainable Energy for All a reality for all small islands and low lying nations and for helping us achieve the SIDS DOCK goal of Island Energy for Island Life,” added Al Binger, SIDS DOCK Coordinator.

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For more information:

Mr. Al Binger, Energy Advisor, CARICOM Climate Change Centre, SIDS DOCK Coordinator, abinger@sidsdock.org

Mr. Martin Lugmayr, Sustainable Energy Expert, UNIDO, m.lugmayr@unido.org