AUE calls for realisation of envisioned joint Arab electricity market

AMMAN — The sixth Arab Union of Electricity (AUE) Conference recommended that more efforts be exerted towards realisng a joint Arab electricity market on a commercial basis.

The Amman-based AUE, in its sixth conference which concluded last Thursday, also called for completing the Arab electricity grids interconnection projects, the Jordan News Agency, Petra, reported.

The National Electric Power Company (NEPCO) Director General Amjad Rawashdeh, who chaired the conference, said that participants in the two-day event called for utilising the expertise of advanced countries in the field of cross-border grid interconnection.

Participants also called for more exploitation of renewable energy resources in the Arab region, recommending the utilisation of the advanced expertise of some Arab states in the field, Petra said. 

On nuclear energy, participants also called on Arab states to study the possibility of establishing joint nuclear stations to generate electricity and desalinate water, according to Petra. 

A total of 30 representatives of Arab states and public and private organisations took part in the AUE conference, which was held in the Dead Sea area in cooperation with NEPCO, according to Petra.  

Established in 1987, the 19-member AUE aims at improving and developing the electricity sector in the Arab world, coordinating work fields between member states and strengthening relations between them. The union’s member states are Jordan, the UAE, Bahrain, Tunisia, Algeria, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Syria, Iraq, Oman, Palestine, Qatar, Kuwait, Lebanon, Libya, Egypt, Morocco, Mauritania and Yemen.