South Caucasus Regional Energy Forum took place at Sheraton Batumi Hotel on 18-19 May. The forum was attended by relevant government representatives, energy experts, representatives of private sector and Think Tanks of Georgia, Armenia and Azerbaijan.  The forum covered legal and institutional framework for improving energy efficiency and future prospects of energy efficiency in the context of EU integration of South Caucasus countries.

WEG was represented by Natalia Shatirishvili, who spoke about the role of energy efficiency in country’s energy strategy. In her presentation she reviewed the world experience in developing energy efficiency part of energy strategy, providing general structure and the most popular measures. She also discussed the measures most critical from Georgian perspective.

Presentations were followed by working groups’ active discussion of recommendations for improving the legal framework and process of approximation of countries’ Energy Policy to EU standards. Recommendations for strengthening the economic instruments, better interaction between government, business and society, development of energy efficiency educational programs were actively discussed. Working groups formulated concept papers to represent the common vision of energy efficiency in regional context.