Ouagadougou: The ministers in charge of Energy from Burkina Faso, Mali, Niger, Chad and Togo agreed yesterday, Saturday in Niamey, on how to work in synergy in order to quickly achieve better autonomy of their countries in terms of energy, ‘on a common effort’.

The ministers in charge of energy from the Alliance of Sahel States, and from neighboring Chad and Togo, discussed the best way to guarantee the foundations of the energy collaboration that already exists between them and to move forward on specific subjects such as the Desert to Power project, for ‘better autonomy in Energy matters through a joint effort by different countries’, explained the Chadian Minister, Niambeye N. Alire.

The Desert to Power initiative is a program supported by the African Development Bank (AfDB) which will erect installations of 10 gigawatts of solar production capacity to power the Sahel region for the benefit of approximately 250 million people.

‘We will today, in continuity with the work already undertaken in these count
ries which are part of this project, review this project to optimize it and accelerate its implementation for the good of our countries, development of our respective populations,’ detailed Ms. Niambeye Alire after the meeting of ministers with the President of Niger, General Abdourahamane Tiani.

‘It was indeed a question of consolidating this economic cooperation which exists in the hydrocarbon and energy sector,’ added the representative of Chad.

At the opening of the meeting at Radison Blu in Niamey, the Nigerien Prime Minister, Lamine Zeine, declared in particular that the meeting ‘has an exceptional character to be inscribed in golden letters in the inexorable process of integration to which we aspire the people of our sub-region.

The question of energy is often presented as one of the major equations that African states must resolve to finally launch their economic take-off and the real development of their citizens.

Source: Burkina Information Agency