On Friday, September 23, in cooperation with the Atlantic Council’s Global Energy Center, the Africa Center hosted a delegation from the Moroccan host-country Steering Committee for the Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP22) for a briefing on the conference, which will take place in Marrakech, Morocco, in November 2016. The delegation included Mr. Driss El Yazami, head of civil society activities for COP22, and Mr. Saïd Mouline, head of public-private partnerships for COP22.

Global Energy Center Founding Chairman and Director Ambassador Richard Morningstar welcomed participants. Africa Center Director Dr. J. Peter Pham introduced the delegation and, following the speakers’ remarks, moderated the discussion .

In their remarks, El Yazami and Mouline underscored Morocco’s successes in integrating renewable energy , which include a major solar power plant in the Sahara Desert and the world’s largest wind farm. Both speakers detailed the need for continued public-private partnerships in addressing climate change and its impact on women and children, as well as opportunities to better connect African civil society with international civil society networks for accreditation and support. The subsequent discussion highlighted Morocco’s leadership vis-a-vis exporting renewable energy technology across Africa, encouraging the participation of women in the renewable energy sector, and deepening economic cooperation across the continent.

Other participants included Mr. Driss Alaoui, chargé d’affaires, a.i. of the Embassy of the Kingdom on Morocco; Ms. Vivian Derryck, president and CEO of The Bridges Institute and former assistant administrator for Africa at the US Agency for International Development; Mr. David Koranyi, director of the Eurasian Energy Futures Initiative at the Atlantic Council; and Mr. Duncan Marsh, director of international climate policy at the Nature Conservancy.

Image: Left to right: Driss Alaoui, chargé d’affaires, a.i. of the Embassy of the Kingdom on Morocco; Saïd Mouline, head of public-private partnerships for COP22; and Driss El Yazami, head of civil society activities for COP22.