Zubair Qureshi Copenhagen
Denmark’s energy officials have been collaborating with their Pakistani counterparts for quite some time in capacity building, technical assistance, integration of renewable energy and low carbon emissions and both the countries are now close to converting this into a formal Green Energy Framework Agreement.
Ambassador of Pakistan in Denmark Ahmad Farooq expressed these views while talking to a group of media persons from Pakistan that was recently in Denmark on a study tour “Advocacy on Climate Change & Green Transition” organized by the Embassy of Denmark in Pakistan.
Ambassador Ahmad Farooq said the two sides were only waiting for some important occasion/visit when their leaders could meet and formally announce the historic agreement.
The Pakistani envoy who had come to meet the media persons from his country briefed them about the bilateral ties between the two countries in general and the collaboration in renewable energy in particular. He highlighted the challenges Pakistan was facing in this particular sector and described Denmark’s technical assistance and support quite timely and highly valuable.
Our reliance on external sources of energy like fossil fuel, gas, etc is the main source of the country’s current accounts deficit and if we switch to green and clean energy it will not only lessen that burden but would also significantly lower carbon emissions, he said.
Pakistan has set a target i.e. 60pc of all its energy will be generated through clean and renewable sources by 2030. If we achieve the target for Alternative and Renewable Energy (ARE) it will definitely be a milestone in the energy sector of the country, he said. Currently, wind energy’s share in Pakistan’s total energy production is less than 4 per cent while in Denmark it is more or less 50pc. This is the area where we can benefit a lot from Denmark that is a world leader in green energy, he said.
Ambassador Farooq told the journalists that Denmark Energy Agency’s (DEA) experts were exchanging relevant technical knowledge and knowhow with their Pakistani counterparts and provided technical assistance under the Danish Energy Transition Initiative (DETI). They have held session with the officials of Pakistan’s National Electric Power Regulatory Authority (NEPRA), Alternative Energy Development Board (AEDB) and National Transmission & Dispatch Company (NTDC).
Pakistan’s RE targets for 2030 were definitely very ambitious but a newly World Bank study showed the targets could be met in a cost-efficient way.
To a question, Ambassador Farooq said his counterpart in Islamabad Danish Ambassador Lis Rosenholm and her team were instrumental in realizing the meaningful cooperation between the two countries.
Although the government is changed in the meanwhile, yet the current government is also fully resolved to go ahead with the alternative and renewable energy agreement with Denmark as it can play key role in climate mitigation and GHG reduction.
Apart from energy collaboration, Denmark government is also working with the Pakistan government in waste management in Lahore and Faisalabad, he said. The Faisalabad waste treatment project is already in the final stage as its tender has also been passed, he said. About the Pakistani community in Denmark, he said they were contributing to the Danish economy and society quite positively. Although the Danish community of the Pakistani origin was not more than 35,000 in the country, yet it represented almost all professions and manifestations of Denmark’s society like business, health, politics, law, education and even development and corporate sectors, said the Pakistani ambassador adding they enjoyed all the benefits and rights in the Danish society and the Pakistani embassy seldom received any complaint from either of the two parties.
