October 28, 2021, Nur-Sultan, Kazakhstan – On October 27, the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) and international financial institutions (IFIs) co-hosted a virtual meeting to deepen cooperation and create new initiatives for a regional electricity market. During the meeting, participants discussed the status of the Central Asia Regional Electricity Market (CAREM) and proposed rules to guide operations.
Director of Electric Power Development Department of the Ministry of Energy of Kazakhstan Aidos Daribaev; Official Secretary of the Ministry of Energy of the Kyrgyz Republic Aibek Akmoldaev; Deputy Minister of Energy and Water Resources of Tajikistan Jamshed Shoimzoda; Deputy Minister for Energy of Uzbekistan Sherzod Khodjhaev; and USAID Regional Mission Director for Central Asia Lawrence Hardy II participated in the meeting.
In his opening remarks, Hardy stated, “A regional Central Asia electricity market will bring significant economic benefits to all countries, enhance the region’s energy security, and reduce the region’s carbon footprint.”
In October 2020, the Deputy Ministers of Energy of Kazakhstan, the Kyrgyz Republic, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan officially endorsed the CAREM Roadmap and Action Plan, a first-in-region USAID document intended to guide collective efforts to create an economically viable and sustainable regional electricity market.
At a second Deputy Ministerial meeting in June 2021, USAID presented a concept for an intergovernmental council, a high-level government body that will facilitate and support a functional regional electricity market. At the meeting, senior government representatives agreed that an intergovernmental platform, such as the intergovernmental council, is necessary to establish the market.
At today’s meeting, USAID and IFI partners jointly presented an amended intergovernmental council concept to facilitate the development of the regional electricity market that was supported by Kazakhstan, the Kyrgyz Republic, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan. This regional council will facilitate the necessary policy, legal, and regulatory cooperation to make a Central Asia Regional Electricity Market a reality. The participants also discussed the proposed Market Rules, a comprehensive framework to regulate the operation of the future regional power market, the status of the CAREM Roadmap, and proposed next steps.
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USAID began its assistance to establish a Central Asia regional electricity market in 2018. A regional energy market will serve as a platform for an expanded Central Asia-South Asia power market that will deploy the lowest-cost power in support of greater economic and social development. USAID is the world’s premier international development agency and a catalytic actor driving development results. To know more, visit the USAID Central Asia website and Facebook page.
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