UAE Minister: Central Asia must fast-track green energy transition
On the sidelines of the International Conference “Central Asia Facing Global Climate Threats” in Samarkand, Suhail Mohamed Al Mazrouei, Minister of Energy and Infrastructure of the United Arab Emirates, in an exclusive comment to the Silk Way TV channel, called on Central Asian countries to speed up their shift to green energy by embracing privatization and building stronger cross-border energy connections, Kazinform News Agency reports.
Silk Way’s Ainur Imangali asked how countries with economies reliant on natural resources can speed up the transition to green energy.
In response, Al Mazrouei emphasized the role of private sector involvement as a catalyst for growth in green energy:
“First of all, promoting privatization is the first step to increase the number of projects. I'm glad Central Asia is adopting privatization, at least in the upstream of green energy, where the investors are coming, putting capital, and incentivizing such investments on a large scale.”
He continued by pointing to the region’s potential, particularly Kazakhstan, as a global clean energy leader:
“The pace can be faster. We can do much more, especially in a country the size of Kazakhstan. Kazakhstan could be the powerhouse of not only Central Asia, but I would say the rest of the world. You have massive resources from wind to solar to batteries and others. So how can we increase the size of the projects and interconnect Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan with the rest of the world? I mentioned the Caspian interconnection with Azerbaijan and then to Europe; that's another project. Asia to China, increasing the interconnection with China also is a great market. These are the projects that we aspire to see, and I think now more projects are coming, but the pace could be higher.”
Earlier, it was reported about the green energy agreement that Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan were about to sign at COP29.
