EU hosts developing nations' meeting on energy

The European Union is hosting in May 2001, a conference on energy and its link with poverty ahead of the UN-sponsored meeting grouping the world's Least Developed Countries (LDCs).

The EU-supported meeting slated for May 14-20 in Brussels, Belgium, will focus on industrial energy efficiency, renewable energy resources, and cleaner energy technologies, reported the Panafrican News Agency referring to a release by UNIDO, the UN Industrial Development Organization.

A preparatory meeting March 12-14 in Vienna, Austria, to be jointly organized by UNIDO and the government of Austria, will seek a broad consensus between the various stakeholders in LDCs and development partners on key issues inherent in development approaches.

It will also lay the grounds for committed partnerships in concrete programs, the release added.

The conference proper in May will seek to check any further marginalization of LDCs and try to put a halt to their socio-economic deterioration.

Also envisaged, is the setting up of a collective Program of Action for LDCs in the new decade, based on concrete commitments by the international community in partnership with the LDCs.

UNIDO is co-operating closely with the UN Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), and other UN agencies on these initiatives.