The Ministry of Energy of Mexico (SENER) in collaboration with the National Council for Science and Technology (CONACYT), the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) and the World Bank (WB), are organizing the International Forum on Renewable Energies (FIER), with the purpose of promoting the deployment of renewable energy sources for electricity generation. This forum will take place in the Mayan Riviera Fairmont Mayakoba Hotel, on May 19 and 20, 2014 and will gather over 300 practitioners and experts, along with national authorities from the Western hemisphere. Mr. Roberto Borge, Governor of the State of Quintana Roo, will inaugurate this world-class event. Other high-level guests include Pedro Joaquin Coldwell, Mexico Energy Minister, Luis Alberto Moreno, President, Inter-American Development Bank, Jim Yong Kim, President, World Bank, Dr. Steven Chu, Nobel Prize in Physics in 1997 and Ernest Moniz, US secretary of Energy. FIER will provide a platform to discuss a sustainable energy future based on intraregional cooperation on clean energy.

FIER’s specific objectives include the presentation of the Special Program for the Use of Renewable Energies 2014-2018, the development of an international workshop on Smart Networks under the leadership of IRENA and the World Bank and the presentation of the Mexican Innovation Centers in Solar and Wind Power. In the field of renewable energies, the forum seeks to acknowledge technological innovation, share best practices in regulation and investment, identify actions to strengthen financing and risk mitigation, and to tackle barriers that inhibit market expansion and analyze social, environmental and public policy issues associated with renewable energy projects.

Concurrently, ECPA’S Ministerial Preparatory Meeting will take place and will include the participation of the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA). This side meeting will seek to assess the Partnership’s structure through an internal consultation process including several ECPA National Focal Points, Joint Pillar Coordinators and other key stakeholders. ECPA Clearinghouse Manager Juan Cruz Monticelli, will make a presentation about ECPA’s progress and initiatives’ achievements. This meeting will be the first of four preparatory meetings for ECPA’s second Ministerial Meeting, after meeting in Washington, DC in 2010.