Regional energy summit in Colombo this month
View(s):The Independent Power Producers Association of India (IPPAI) is organising its third Asia Energy Security Summit on February 26-28 in Colombo.
Speakers at the Summit include Hilal Raza, Director, SAARC Energy Centre, Islamabad; Priyantha Wijayatunga, Senior Energy Specialist, Asian Development Bank, Manila; A.R. Samadi, CEO, DABS, Afghanistan; Damitha Kumarasinghe, Director General, Public Utilities Commission of Sri Lanka; Uday Raj Sapkota, Joint Secretary, Ministry of Energy, Nepal; Gem Tshering, Director, Bhutan Power Corporation Ltd, Bhutan; Aman Ghalib, Acting Renewable Energy Director, Ministry of Water & Energy, Afghanistan; Prof. Maniruzzaman, Honorary Professorial Fellow, Centre of Energy, Petroleum, Mineral Law & Policy, University of Dundee, Scotland; Dr. Thusitha Sugathapala, Director General, Sri Lanka Sustainable Energy Authority, Sri Lanka; Shyam Ratan Mehra, Former Secretary – Security, Govt. of India; Prof. Dr. Bukin Daulay, Senior Researcher, Centre for Research & Development, Ministry of Energy & Mineral Resources, Indonesia; Kayhan Barzegar, Director, Institute of Middle East Strategies, Tehran and Dong Manyuan, Vice President, China Institute of International Studies, China. The first and second summits in this series were held in Colombo in 2011 and 2012, the organisers said.
The highlight of the event is a panel discussion on transnational ‘trade of electricity’ where the heads of utilities and government bodies as well as the heads of private sector from the concerned region will deliberate on “Opportunities and Challenges of connecting Tajikistan to Singapore”.
The summit series is a initiative where government and industry leaders, regulators, policymakers, academicians and think-tanks from across Asia discuss and debate issues relating to the entire energy spectrum, particularly the emerging issues pertaining to geopolitics of energy, energy security and security of energy infrastructure.
IPPAI is an institution set up in 1994 to provide a neutral platform for the discussion and examination of issues critical to the development of the private power sector in India. “Over the years IPPAI has evolved as a leading independent think tank in the not-for-profit space for resolving critical issues in the rnergy sector of Asia and other parts of the globe,” the statement said.