5 October 2012: The Latin American Energy Organization’s (OLADE) new Subregional Office for the Caribbean convened a meeting of agencies involved in energy policy and projects in the region to define a “Subregional Energy Agenda” outlining objectives, priorities and lines of action consistent with the needs and policies of OLADE’s Caribbean member States, namely Barbados, Cuba, the Dominican Republic, Grenada, Guyana, Haiti, Jamaica, Suriname and Trinidad and Tobago.

The meeting was held 28 September 2012 in Kingston, Jamaica and coordinated by Conroy Watson, head of OLADE’s subregional office.

Attending the meeting at the invitation of OLADE and the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA) were representatives of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) Secretariat, CARICOM’s Caribbean Energy Information System (CEIS), the UN Economic Commission for Latin America and Caribbean (ECLAC), the World Bank Institute, the UN Environment Programme (UNEP) Regional Office for LAC (ROLAC), the UNEP Risoe Centre, the UN Development Programme (UNDP), and the Iberoamerican Programme of Science and Technology for Development (CYTED) operated by the Iberoamerican General Secretariat (SEGIB).

All agency representatives attending discussed their organization’s current and prospective work related to energy, including projects and programs to promote renewable energy, energy efficiency and energy conservation, as well as nationally appropriate mitigation actions (NAMAs) and clean development mechanism (CDM) projects involving energy. They further explored possible areas for synergies. The result of the meeting is a matrix outlining the priorities and main lines of action on energy for Caribbean and the activities and specialties of each agency. [OLADE Press Release]