TERI director general RK Pachauri to visit Pakistan for energy prospects

NEW DELHI: TERI that has been holding a dialogue both at the official and NGO levels in Pakistan for implementing renewable energy based solutions is taking it at next level by visiting the neighbouring country.

Punjab chief minister Mian Shahbaz Sharif has invited a delegation from TERI as state guests to hold a dialogue with senior officials and other stakeholders in Lahore to identify renewable energy based solutions and facilitate their implementation.

TERI delegation led by its director general RK Pachauri will spend three days in Pakistan working closely with departments and agencies of the Government of Punjab in that country.

“The time has come for all the stakeholders in India and Pakistan, and in fact all South Asia to work towards close and good neighbourly relations. It is only then that we would be able to develop solutions to our common problems of poverty, hunger and take the countries of the region towards healthy and sustainable growth”, said TERI director general RK Pachauri before leaving for Pakistan. Pachauri will also give this year’s ‘Quaid-i-Azam Lecture’ entitled ‘Energy, Environment and Sustainable Development in South Asia’ organised by the Pakistan Institute of Development Economics December 21 in Islamabad.

In recent years Pakistan has been facing severe problems on the energy front, and on this issue there has also been an active dialogue with the Government of India on the possibility of a power supply arrangement from India’s northern grid to the province of Punjab in Pakistan.

TERI has had considerable experience through its ‘Lighting a Billion Lives’ campaign in India, installation of biomass gasifiers in rural areas as well as innovation through the use of mini grids to supply clean lighting and facilitate the operation of clean cook stoves in rural homes, read TERI’s media statement.