Mozena for policies to attract IOCs

FE Report | Published: October 30, 2014 00:00:00 | Updated: November 30, 2026 06:01:00

US Ambassador Dan W Mozena has called for formulating policies and setting a pricing structure for attracting international oil companies (IOCs) to engage in exploration of energy and thus aid the country's economic development.
"The policies and pricing structure will really energise investments in the country," he said while talking to journalists after inauguration of the first Bangladesh Sustainable Energy for All (SE4All) Investor Forum at a city hotel on Wednesday.
The US ambassador said the country had potential to attract investments from at least 50 IOCs competing to engage in exploring and producing energy as the country's gas is the best for turning the economy into an Asian Tiger.
Lauding the country's performance in the area of sustainable energy and energy efficiency, the US envoy also said better policies would help the country set appropriate targets for the future.
At the inaugural session, the ambassador said Bangladesh had challenges on the energy front, including the lack of adequate energy. He attached importance to overcoming the great challenge to emerge an economic tiger.
US Deputy Assistant Secretary for Transformation Dr Robert Ichord, SE4ALL chief operating officer Mohinder Gulati and Chairman of Sustainable and Renewable Energy Development Authority Tapash Kumar Roy also talked to the press.
The two-day SE4ALL business forum kicked off with participation of representatives from investment companies, including financial institutions, and development partners.
They will explore investment opportunities and look for partner interventions and investment climate to attract more investments in the areas of renewable energy, energy efficiency with the target to ensure rural people's access to off-grid and mini-grid facilities.
The US Deputy Assistant Secretary expressed hope that the investor forum would develop partnership from a broader perspective to ensure access to energy and meet the global target of sustainable energy.
World Bank Country Director Johannes Zutt and Asian Development Bank Country Director Higuchi Kazuhiko and Dr Wolfram Klein of Federation Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development of Germany also spoke in the partner interventions session of the programme.
World Bank Country Director Johannes Zutt laid importance on increasing cooperation among South Asian countries, including Bangladesh, Nepal and Bhutan as the region has huge renewable energy in solar, hydropower etc.
He cited the World Bank's contribution to developing renewable energy in Bangladesh to ensure the country's target to meet its sustainable energy target. The ADB country director also stressed energy sharing and said the ADB was assisting the country in exploring renewable energy and energy efficiency to ensure availability of power in off-grid areas.
The German ministry official lauded Bangladesh for playing a pioneer role in many sustainable energy sectors and said his government was focusing on energy access.
smunima@yahoo.com