African Single Electricity Market program gains momentum: AU officials
The remarks were made at the High-Level Technical Meeting on AfSEM and the African Continental Power System Master Plan on Monday at the AU headquarters in Addis Ababa, the capital of Ethiopia.
Speaking at the event, Kamugisha Kazaura, director of infrastructure and energy at the AU Commission, said the institutional and operational foundation has been laid for a unified African electricity market, which delivers clean, reliable and affordable power to every corner of the continent.
"Activities are progressing well to define a common path forward to address critical technical and regulatory gaps and explore continental strategies for renewable energy deployment, trading, and manufacturing," Kazaura said.
Noting that more than 600 million Africans are still without access to electricity, Kazaura called for urgent and sustainable action to meet Africa's rapidly growing energy demand through the full implementation of the AfSEM.
Simbini Tichakunda, principal program officer at the African Union Development Agency-New Partnership for African Development, said Africa is standing on the brink of an energy revolution that promises to transform the continent's economic future.
"The dream of AfSEM is coming to life. The 400 KV seamless power integration between Kenya and Tanzania, linking the grids of Kenya and Tanzania and synchronizing them with those of Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi and the Democratic Republic of the Congo, is a major step forward," Tichakunda noted.
He said the Eastern African Power Pool will be connected to the Southern African Power Pool by 2027.
The two-day meeting is expected to discuss how to de-risk investment in power infrastructure and strengthen institutional readiness at the national and regional levels.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
The Star
31 minutes ago
- The Star
As USAID stops foreign aid, Rubio says future US assistance will be limited
FILE PHOTO: A security guard is stationed in the former offices of the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), where black tape covers the signage on the windows, in the Ronald Reagan Building and International Trade Center in Washington, D.C., U.S., April 24, 2025. REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst/File Photo WASHINGTON (Reuters) -The U.S. Agency for International Development will on Tuesday officially stop implementing foreign aid, Secretary of State Marco Rubio said, adding that America's assistance in the future will be targeted and limited. In a statement marking the transfer of USAID to the State Department as part of President Donald Trump's unprecedented push to shrink the federal government, Rubio said the U.S. was abandoning what he called a charity-based model and would focus on empowering countries to grow sustainably. "We will favor those nations that have demonstrated both the ability and willingness to help themselves and will target our resources to areas where they can have a multiplier effect and catalyze durable private sector, including American companies, and global investment," the top U.S. diplomat wrote. This new model, he wrote, would prioritize trade over aid and investment over assistance, adding it would put Washington in a stronger place to counter Beijing. The Trump administration has frozen and then cut back billions of dollars of foreign aid since taking office, saying it wants to ensure U.S. taxpayer money goes only to programs that are aligned with Trump's "America First" policies. The cutbacks have effectively shut down USAID, leading to the firing of thousands of its employees and contractors. That jeopardized the delivery of life-saving food and medical aid and has thrown global humanitarian relief operations into chaos. According to research published in The Lancet medical journal, deep funding cuts to USAID and its dismantling could result in more than 14 million additional deaths by 2030. Human rights experts and advocates have warned against the cuts. USAID funding has had a crucial role in improving global health, primarily directed toward low- and middle-income countries, particularly African nations, according to the study. Reuters reported on Tuesday that the administration canceled a major contract to supply emergency kits for rape survivors in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo as violence surged there this year, leaving thousands without access to life-saving medication, the United Nations and aid groups said. INVESTMENT AND TRADE DEALS USAID was established in 1961 by Democratic President John F. Kennedy at the height of the Cold War with the aim of better coordinating foreign assistance, already a key platform of U.S. foreign policy in countering Soviet influence. Washington has been the world's largest humanitarian aid donor, amounting to at least 38% of all contributions recorded by the United Nations. It disbursed $61 billion in foreign assistance last year, just over half of that via USAID, according to government data. Among the programs affected by the cuts is the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), the world's leading HIV/AIDS initiative. Sub-Saharan Africa remains the epicenter of the AIDS pandemic. Trump's cuts have restricted the availability of drugs that millions of Africans have taken to prevent infection - particularly vulnerable communities such as gay men and sex workers - as aid groups and public health systems in Africa strove to roll back the disease. Trump has said the U.S. pays disproportionately for foreign aid and he wants other countries to shoulder more of the burden. A senior State Department official briefing reporters on the condition of anonymity described the USAID model as "failed engagement" that did not reduce the dependency of foreign countries on the United States, and he said other nations will need to step up. "We want to see more investment from our partners, co-investment," the official said. "We want to see trade deals, compacts, agreements to work together on stuff." The shuttering of USAID drew a rare rebuke from former presidents George Bush and Barack Obama who joined a closed video conference event with the USAID community, the Associated Press reported on Monday. "Gutting USAID is a travesty and it's a tragedy. Because it's some of the most important work happening anywhere in the world," Obama was quoted as saying. (Reporting by Humeyra Pamuk; Additional reporting by Daphne Psaledakis; Editing by Don Durfee and Daniel Wallis)
The Star
an hour ago
- The Star
Tax operations declared as "essential services" in Bangladesh
DHAKA, July 1 (Xinhua) -- The Bangladeshi interim government has declared tax operations as "essential services," in a bid to better safeguard local and foreign trade and commerce. Bangladesh's Ministry of Labor and Employment issued a gazette notification in this regard Tuesday. According to the notification, tax operations are declared as essential operations for meeting revenue collection targets of the government and for keeping the financial management of the government dynamics. The Bangladeshi interim government last month through an ordinance created two new divisions by abolishing the country's National Board of Revenue in an apparent move to modernize tax administration and boost revenue collection. The ordinance stated that the Revenue Policy Division will monitor the implementation of tax laws while the Revenue Management Division will mainly look into revenue collection. The restructuring reportedly followed a key condition set by the International Monetary Fund to separate tax policy from administration. The Washington-based lender has long pushed for tax reforms to raise Bangladesh's tax-to-GDP ratio, one of the lowest in Asia.
The Star
an hour ago
- The Star
U.S. trade policy remains concerning for Malaysia's technology sector: analysts
KUALA LUMPUR, July 1 (Xinhua) -- While global semiconductor sales for 2025 are expected to continue to grow, analysts remained cautious about outlook for Malaysia's technology sector due to prevailing uncertainties surrounding U.S. trade policy. TA Securities said in its recent note that should the U.S. implement sector-specific tariffs on semiconductor imports, it could materially impact end-market demand and Malaysian technology corporate earnings. According to the research house, heading into the second half, there are three major factors that could potentially influence the sector's earnings, U.S. policies; global semiconductor sales; progress of Malaysia's National Semiconductor Strategy. "Should the U.S. administration proceed with imposing tariffs on semiconductor imports, it could severely disrupt the global supply chain and dampen end-user demand," the research house said. Hence, it believed the policy risk will likely persist in the coming months, potentially leading to delays in orders and capital expenditure plans as corporates adopt a more conservative approach in response to the lack of policy visibility. Meanwhile, TA Securities noted that the global semiconductor market was still undergoing an upcycle, with positive momentum expected to continue into the second half.
