Ghana’s hosting of the event next year will be the second time she is hosting the Forum. In 2011, ERERA launched the maiden edition in Accra after which Member States were invited to host subsequent editions. Cote d’Ivoire (2011), Senegal (2012) and The Gambia (2013) had previously hosted the Forum before the baton was passed on to Burkina Faso.

The statement said the Sixth Forum would seek to encourage participants to consider and discuss issues with institutional, technological, environmental and financial implications, but related to a successful energy transition in West Africa. With preparations in top gear for the launch of the regional electricity market, participants at the Sixth Forum may also be expected to help define a strategy and policy for restructuring national electricity markets as a means of developing the unified regional market and facilitating electricity trade within ECOWAS.

In addition they would explore modalities for financing energy infrastructure in order to increase the availability of electricity as well as consider governance issues and regulatory best practices. At the Ouagadougou Forum, participants were treated to presentations in four sessions dealing with the harmonisation of national policies and rules for the establishment of the regional electricity market, regulatory governance, development of energy infrastructure as well as innovative solutions to promote renewable energy and energy efficiency.

Representatives of the Ministries of Energy, National Regulatory Authorities, power generation, transmission and distribution operators in ECOWAS Member States attended the Fifth Forum.    In addition were representatives of the West African Power Pool, the ECOWAS Centre for Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency and technical and financial partners.

Mauritania was represented by delegates from the Ministry of Energy and the National Electricity Regulatory Authority of Mauritania.