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The Subregional Office for West Africa of the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA/SRO-WA)will organize an ad hoc Expert Group Meeting on “Strengthening Public-Private Partnerships in the Electricity Sector in West Africa” from 14 to 15 July, 2010 in Accra, Ghana.

The Expert Group Meeting will be attended by high level experts from the ECOWAS subregion, coming from Ministries of Energy of ECOWAS member states, ECOWAS and UEMOA Commissions, West African Power Pool, West African Electricity Regulators, AfDB, World Bank, ECOWAS Bank for Investment and Development (EBID), independent power producers/distributors, etc.

The overall objective of the meeting is to review and share experiences and knowledge in Public-Private Partnership frameworks in the electricity sector in West Africa, with a view to extracting best practices and learning points towards strengthening this business model and enhance access to electricity in the sub region. The case studies for Cote d’Ivoire, Ghana, Mali, Nigeria and Senegal will provide empirical information on operating frameworks, resource mobilization strategies, the challenges faced and recommendations to strengthen public private partnerships.

The meeting will specifically: Conduct an in-depth review of the nature and structure of PPPs in the electricity sector in the five countries and their supporting institutional frameworks; Identify and document the challenges faced by Governments in structuring) and monitoring the performance of PPPs; Identify the key success factors in these experiences and evaluate the impact on long-term sustainability of PPPs for the sector; From the analyses, recommend best practices and essential components which should be included in national and sub regional frameworks to strengthen PPPs including developing PPP institutions, and create a conducive environment for private sector participation.

The main expected outcomes are aimed at providing national and subregional level recommendations to strengthen the PPP frameworks in the electricity sector in West Africa through a more integrated and harmonized approach in policies and guidelines.

Source: www.myjoyonline.com