At the beginning of the conference, the participants were welcomed by Vice President of the National Assembly of the Republic of Serbia Mr Vladimir Marinković, pointing out that such type of conference, aimed at exchanging opinions on issues of common interest such as renewable energy sources, represented a useful platform for improvement of interparliamentary cooperation and acceleration of energy transition in the countries of the region.
He said that there should be endeavours to adopt adequate legislative framework, attract additional investments, use natural potential, but also follow new technologies in the field of renewable energy sources, in order to enable better competitiveness in the South East Europe countries.
in the first part of the conference, the participants were addressed by Assistant to the Minister of Mining and Energy of the Republic of Serbia Mr Miloš Banjac and Deputy Director General of the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) Mr Sakari Oksanen.
Assistant to the Minister Mr Miloš Banjac pointed out that, for Serbia, it was strategically significant to use as many as possible different renewable energy sources, bearing in mind that that was a way to reduce import dependency, through using domestic energy sources and thus reducing harmful radiation emissions.
He said that, at the moment, Serbia was using 20% of renewable energy sources, as well as that the goal was to increase that percentage to 27% by 2020.
Deputy Director General of the International Renewable Energy Agency Mr Sakari Oksanen said that IRENA’s goal was to provide assistance to the countries in the region so that they can, following new technologies, as rapidly as possible switch to renewable energy sources which would enable development and reduction of harmful gases emission and climate change.
He emphasised that there was commitment of all SEE countries to further progress in this field and concluded that it was necessary for governments and parliaments of the countries in the region to continue to provide financial and legislative assistance in order to additionally speed up the energy transition of the region.
During the sessions, the participants had the opportunity to exchange opinions on national experiences of parliamentarians in the field of renewable energy sources, drivers of accelerated switch to renewable energy, status of renewable energy in SEE, as well as support to parliamentarians in promotion of renewable energy through their activities.
With regard to renewable energy sources in Montenegro, member of the Committee on Economy, Finance and Budget Mr Filip Vuković , pointed out that in 2016 the percentage of electrical energy produced from renewable energy sources in the total production of electrical energy in Montenegro amounted to 60%. participants in the conference, organised by the Committee on Economy, Regional Development, Trade, Tourism and Energy of the National Assembly of the Republic of Serbia, Serbian Parliamentary Energy Policy Forum, and Economic Caucus of the National Assembly of the Republic of Serbia, also included Chairperson of the Committee on Infrastructure, Environment and Spatial Planning of the Republic of Slovenia Mr Igor Zorčič, and then representatives of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, representatives of the Energy Community Secretariat, as well as representatives of research institutes, organisations and companies dealing with renewable energy sources.
