Green growth thanks to RET

Mr. Mongi Hamdi, Director of the Science and Information Technologies department in the United Nations Conference of Trade and Development (UNCTAD) held a meeting with the press, on Tuesday in Tunis, on the launch of the 2011 Report on Technology and Innovation. He pointed out that the Report looks at the role to be played by the renewable energies technologies in developing countries. The renewable energy technology (RET) will help these countries access green growth and speed up their economic development, explained Mr. Hamdi. This technology serves a double target: developing these countries' access to energy and reducing the impact of their economic development on climate change. "Transition to renewable energies is still impeded by the level of subsidies brought to the developing countries," he went on saying, reminding that in 2009 subsidies to the fossil fuel stood at about 312 billion dollars, compared with 57 billion dollars for renewable energies. In this connection, he reminded that the Report will serve as a support instrument to the African governments in their negotiations with the developed countries to obtain the necessary donations and subsidies. Thus, the Report, published by the UNCTAD in association with the African Development Bank (AfDB), proposes four new tools to develop technological apprenticeship and the capacities of transition to the RET in the developing countries. In turn, Mrs. Hela Cheikhrouhou, Director of AfDB's Energy and Environment Operations, said that the fact of mastering the new technologies in the renewable energy field is a real opportunity for Tunisia. She stressed that Tunisia has accomplished real progress in the energy efficiency and control sectors, reasserting AfDB's support in this field.