MANILA – The Asian Development Bank (ADB) and the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) recently signed a partnership agreement to ramp up private sector engagement and investments in clean energy projects in Asia Pacific region.
The deal was signed during the Asian Clean Energy Forum at the ADB headquarters in Mandalayong City.
“Under the framework of this agreement, USAID and ADB will work to mobilize $7 billion of investment for energy projects in Asia and the Pacific, boost the capacity of clean energy systems by 6 gigawatts, and increase regional energy trade by 10 percent over the next five years,” USAID Asia Bureau acting assistant administrator Gloria Steele said.
Steele clarified that the $7 billion of investments the USAID and ADB are planning to mobilize are not in the form of loans or financing.
“We are not giving out loans,” she said, adding that the initiative “will provide technical support services that will bring companies to work together.”
“It will try to get companies to work together to mobilize … resources to finance energy projects in the various countries in the region,” she said.
“What we are planning to do is to get private sector engaged in the energy sector in the region. From their engagement we will be able to mobilize investments from the private sector,” she added.
ADB and USAID will work together to “catalyze” partnerships with private sector companies on energy projects.
For his part, ADB director general for Strategy, Policy, and Review Tomoyuki Kimura said the partnership agreement will promote energy efficiency, energy sector reform, and good governance of Asia and the Pacific’s energy sector.
“We will focus on clean energy, renewable, and energy access for all,” Kimura said. (GMA News)
