Rwandan President calls for energy imbalances to be addressed

RWANDA

Rwandan President Paul Kagame says imbalances of energy between developed and developing countries need to be addressed.

The President was addressing the third World Energy Forum hosted in Dubai.

Held in line with the 2012 United Nations theme of “clean, safe and sustainable energy for all, the meeting began with the signing of the World Heads of the World Energy Day Proclamation establishing October 22 as a day to raise awareness about energy issues and stimulate political will to support sustainable energy.

With over 1.3 billion people yet to have access to electricity, this year's theme is a call on world leaders to ensure equitable access to energy. In Africa, only a quarter of the population has access to electricity.

President Kagame called for the kind of global commitment that has made the Millenium Development Goals a success: “It has become clear that when the world acknowledges that there is a problem and acts to resolve it, the outcome is impressive. We need to address imbalances of energy between developed and developing countries and raise level of consumption and utilization. The world community should treat access to energy as a basic right essential in the development process.”