Bangladesh signs global energy charter

Bangladesh has signed the International Energy Charter along with 74 countries in The Hague for sustainable energy development, improvement of energy security and maximisation of the efficiency of production, conversion, transport and distribution.

Sheikh Mohammed Belal, Bangladesh's ambassador to the Netherlands, signed the charter on behalf of the government at the ministerial conference on international energy recently.

The deal emphasises working towards access to energy for citizens in emerging and developing economies, the foreign ministry said in a statement.

The Bangladesh envoy informed the conference that Bangladesh is working towards production of 24,000MW of electricity by 2021 which will be increased to 40,000MW by 2030.

While 50 percent of this production will come from coal using ultra super critical technology, Bangladesh also wishes to add a significant part of this production from renewable energy sources, he said.

He said Bangladesh mulls investment to the tune of $10 billion in the next three years and another $8 billion dollars in the following seven years.

The envoy said Bangladesh is not only pursuing an innovative public private partnership within the country, but working with her neighbouring countries in establishing a regional energy network through different regional cooperation frameworks.

Earlier, the International Energy Charter was inaugurated by Henk Kamp, minister of economic affairs of the Netherlands. Bert Koenders, minister for foreign affairs, also spoke.