April 24, 2007	Tuesday	Rabi-us-Sani 06, 1428

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ISLAMABAD, April 23: Adviser to the Prime Minister on Energy, Mukhtar Ahmad said on Monday that the energy crisis had never been so critical and urged to promote efficient use of energy resources.

Speaking as chief guest at the first Saarc Expert Group meeting on Energy Conservation and Energy Efficiency held at a local hotel he sought exchange of ideas on energy efficiency among the Saarc countries.

The meeting was organised by the National Energy Conservation Centre (Enercon). The two-day event was arranged to deliberate on the options and potential of energy conservation and energy efficiency measures and to devise a road map for implementation in the Saarc region.

Fearing severe power crisis in the coming summer season, the adviser to the PM deliberated on the importance of energy conservation for reducing the gap between the demand and supply of energy in the South Asia region countries.

He said adopting a uniform policy by the Saarc countries to work hand in hand in promoting the idea of energy conservation and energy efficiency was imperative.

The meeting deliberating over the importance of the current scenario of energy usage in the Asian subcontinent observed that the crisis often had affected the economy, with many recessions being caused by an energy crisis in some form. In particular, the production costs of electricity rise, which raised manufacturing costs.

Speaking on the occasion, Managing Director Enercon, Dr Pervez Tahir, expressed the hope that the meeting would result in finalizing a road map for implementing the energy conservation programmes in the Saarc region.

Delegates from Bangladesh, Bhutan and India also expressed the need for energy conservation and energy efficient measures to tackle power crisis in the region.