The Gas Exporting Countries Forum’s (GECF) Secretary-General Mr. Yury Sentyurin has discussed new areas of cooperation and reviewed the progress made on a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) inked in December 2020 with the UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization).
The GECF-UNESCO MoU intends to bring the competencies of two organizations together in the areas of climate action, natural resources management, capacity-building, technical support, and sharing of expertise.
During the meeting, UNESCO has reaffirmed its faith in the GECF to lead the way, highlighting industrialized countries’ historical responsibility to assist developing countries in adapting to climate change.
“This can be done through knowledge and technology transfer, as well as in the process of bringing wide-scale climate adaptation,” said Ms. Shamila Nair-Bedouelle, Assistant Director-General for Natural Sciences at UNESCO.
Furthermore, Mr. Sentyurin shared with Ms. Nair-Bedouelle an update on GECF’s activities, specifically those pertaining to the Forum’s involvement in the UN events, including the UN High-Level Dialogue on Energy, UNFCCC’s COP26, and UNECE sessions, as well as those related to the achievement of UN Sustainable Development Goals.
Yury Sentyurin Secretary General GECF
“Our 18 members, representing more than 70 percent of the proven natural gas reserves, have placed climate action at the forefront of their priorities by recognizing the climate challenges, valuing the manifold efforts taken by the international community to counter the environmental issues and cementing the role of natural gas complementing the expanding intermittent renewables in compliance with all major energy scenarios earnestly backcasting the achievement of sustainable development goals.”
The UNESCO official emphasized the Natural Sciences Division’s commitment to developing skills and competencies, the substance and mission of the World Engineering Day for Sustainable Development initiative, the role of science in overall progress, transition of technologies and knowledge, as well extension of support to the developing countries, particularly in Africa.
At the end of the meeting, the two parties decided to develop a collaborative work plan for 2022 that will make it easier to identify areas of cooperation and specific initiatives.
