Speech of the New President
Mr. Minister of Oil and Energy,
Mr. Minister Abdou Fall, outgoing President of COPERES
Ladies and Gentlemen, the members of COPERES
Dear guests, family and friends…
It is with real pleasure that I speak to you today, at the dawn of the new year 2020. I join my wishes to those expressed by Mr. Abdou FALL and wish you a joyful year full of achievements. May this year that is about to begin be a year of stability, peace and growth for our beloved country.
Mr. Minister, I thank you for the honor you bestow upon us by chairing this General Assembly. All our members, the COPERES office, our friends, families and relatives, understand the price of your visit and appreciate the encouragement you give to our efforts to promote Renewable Energies in Senegal. They do not ignore indeed, Mr. Minister, how rare are your moments of freedom in your absorbing functions as Minister of Oil and Energy.
I will have the honor and privilege for the next five years to wear the cap of President of the Business Council for Renewable Energies of Senegal. This organization, whose main mission is the promotion of Renewable Energies in Senegal, will be in the long run, I am sure, thanks to the involvement and collective intelligence of all stakeholders, both public and private, an organization with a strong economic and social impact. This is the ambition that we have and that we intend to achieve.
It is therefore a great joy for me to represent such an organization. I would like to thank Mr. Abdou FALL, the outgoing President, and all the members of COPERES, each of whom could validly have been in my place today.
The question of Energy remains a major issue for Senegal.
This lever of development is included by the Government of Senegal as one of the priority subjects of the Emerging Senegal Plan with a particular emphasis on universal access to energy. Notorious progress has been made in recent years and this is an opportunity to welcome it. But many challenges remain to be met.
Universal access to energy by 2025 will necessarily require the intelligent development of an energy mix.
Fortunately, Senegal has taken the train of the energy transition with already more than 20% of production from renewable sources thanks to important achievements, the fruit of public-private collaboration.
Our ambition is to support the Senegalese government in increasing this contribution to more than 30% by 2025.
To do so and as an illustration, COPERES has included in its new roadmap, a number of priority points among which :
– Training, research and technological innovation,
– Facilitating universal access to energy by relying on off-grid and mini grid solutions,
– The promotion of large-scale energy storage solutions,
– Facilitating the financing of solar home systems,
– The launch of a national campaign to promote solar home systems and productive energy, particularly in rural areas,
– Communication and awareness-raising actions for populations on energy issues in collaboration with Senelec.
Mr. Minister, we know in advance that we can count on your support and backing, that of the state authorities as well as the private sector; private actors to whom I would like to pay tribute for their abnegation and determination to make Senegal a model country in the promotion of renewable energies.
Finally, ladies and gentlemen, I would like to pay special tribute to President Abdou FALL .
– A big brother
– A friend
– An advisor
– A pioneer and tireless defender of renewable energies.
A man of exceptional generosity, who through his enlightened vision and his sense of sharing, was able to build COPERES into a credible Renewable Energy organization on an international level.
Mr. President, all the members of COPERES, express to you by my voice, their gratitude and encourage you in your new missions with President Macky Sall.
Thank you for your kind attention.
The President of COPERES
M. MAMADOU SALIOU SOW
