Prime Minister Raila Odinga arrived in Paris , France today for a two-day visit where he will join officials from the French and African governments to launch the Paris-Nairobi Climate Initiative for clean energy for Africa .
More than 30 African countries will be present at the meeting, alongside representatives of nations that are vulnerable to the ravages of climate change, including frequent droughts and floods.
The Paris-Nairobi Initiative chaired by Kenya and France , an announcement during the climate talks in Mexico last year that France and Kenya would launch an initiative to help Africa and other countries vulnerable to climate change access clean energy.
The Paris-Nairobi Initiative, to be formally launched on Thursday, will initiate high-level between ministers, representatives of multilateral and bilateral donors, business leaders and energy experts.
The Initiative builds on existing agreements like the Africa-EU Energy Partnership co-chaired by Germany , Austria and Mauritius .
Mr Odinga expects Kenya and other African countries to have France make energy access and development its priority. France currently holds the leadership of the G8 and the G20 group of nations.
At the meeting, France is expected to make a strong commitment backed by the country’s political leadership to pursue solutions to energy problems in Africa and other developing countries, in addition to supporting conservation efforts in these countries.
The Paris-Nairobi Initiative is meant to contribute to ability of the vulnerable nations to secure fast-start funds to finance climate initiatives, develop sustainable electricity generation, transmission and distribution.
Kenya and France have drawn a White Paper on access to Sustainable Energy.
The Paper identifies energy and climate projects that can be prioritized for quick gains. These will include projects to be implemented through Public-Private Partnership ahead of the 17th United Nations Conference on Climate Change in Durban and the International Year for Sustainable Energy in 2012.
The Thursday meeting will also identify a club of financial contributors that will coordinate efforts in the energy sector. The club is to be made up of all the donors that are keen on investing in clean energy.
Mr Odinga is also scheduled to meet top officials of the French government on the sidelines of the Paris-Nairobi Initiative.
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