Third Ministerial Conference on Energy in Lisbon on 14 June 2021

Our Secretary General, Angelo Ferrante, attended the Conference of The Ministers of the Union for the Mediterranean (UfM) in charge of Energy as they gathered for their Third Ministerial Conference on Energy in Lisbon on 14 June 2021. The conference was hosted by Portugal and co-chaired by the UfM Co-Presidency with the common goal of raising the ambition of the region to contribute to a just and fair energy transition, supporting the post-pandemic recovery.

The Conference was co-chaired by H.E. Mrs Hala Zawati, Minister of Energy and Mineral Resources of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, and H.E. Ms Kadri Simson, Commissioner for Energy, for the European Union, in the presence of H.E. Mr Nasser Kamel, Secretary General of the UfM Secretariat, and hosted by H.E Mr João Pedro Matos Fernandes, Minister of Environment and Climate Action of the Portuguese Republic.

The Ministers signed a Ministerial Declaration to set the future of the energy sector for the Euro-Mediterranean region. As energy is a major factor for achieving stability and shared prosperity, the objective of the Declaration is to push forward existing regional cooperation in order to deliver secure, affordable and sustainable energy supply in the Mediterranean region, while addressing the growing climate-related and population growth and energy demand challenges that the region is facing, as well as the recovery from the pandemic.

The conference recalled all the work that has contributed to developing the “Near Zero Carbon 2050” scenario as an important achievement of the action conducted by the UfM Energy Platforms, demonstrating the important role of regional energy associations and organizations like Med-TSO , that enable a bottom-up approach for exchanging experience and reaching common understanding towards the harmonization of energy systems around the region.

The UfM co-Presidency, in collaboration with the Platforms’ Secretariats, will continue coordinating the work of the three UfM Energy Platforms, including also where relevant other platforms of the UfM such as Research and Innovation, involving the relevant actors in the manner set out in the working guidelines. Med-TSO, as one of the two members of the Regional Electricity Market Platform, welcomes the strong support for the UfM Energy Platforms, and the invitation to elaborate a draft Roadmap for Action in line with the objectives of this Declaration and, after adoption, support its implementation.