MEFED24

MEFED24 is co-hosted by the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Action of Germany, and the Ministry for Energy and Environment of the Hellenic Republic.

Organizing Committee

Coordination and organisation are supported by Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH and Guidehouse.

If you have any further questions or enquiries, please contact the MEFED Organization Team at
mefed@giz.de

Agenda MEFED24

MENA-Europe Future Energy Dialogue 2024 (MEFED24)

MEFED24 will open its doors on Sunday, 8 September 2024, at 08:00. The shuttle buses from our partner hotels will departure at 07:45 to Grand Hotel Palace. This allows for sufficient time for attendees to arrive and register. The official start of the program is at 09:30.

Download Agenda

09:30 - 10:05

Garden Hall

High-Level Opening at Ministerial Level

The conference will be opened with welcoming speeches of the two hosting ministers, of H.E. Abdulla Balalaa, the Assistant Minister of Foreign Affairs for Energy and Sustainability Affairs of the UAE, the host of COP28, and the Director-General from IRENA, Francesco La Camera. Moderated by Melinda Crane, this will be followed by further keynotes.

  • H.E. Theodoros Skylakakis, Minister of Environment and Energy, Hellenic Republic
  • H.E. Dr Robert Habeck, Federal Minister for Economic Affairs and Climate Action, Germany
  • H.E. Eng. Sabah Mashaly, Deputy Minister of Electricity and Renewable Energy, Egypt
  • H.E. Francesco La Camera, Director-General, IRENA

10:05 – 10:10

Garden Hall

Group Photo of High-Level Representatives with MEFED24 Co-Hosts and Thessaloniki Declaration

10:10 – 11:00

Garden Hall

High-Level Panel Discussion: Leveraging EU-MENA Cooperation for Infrastructure

The cross-regional cooperation between Europe and the MENA region will be central to leveraging resources and developing necessary infrastructure, as neither of the regions will be able to achieve their energy transitions alone. With the moderation by Dr Melinda Crane, the panel is to shed light on necessary actions to unlock the potential of cross-border infrastructure and will examine how MENA-EU energy cooperation can foster the implementation of Europe’s and the MENA region’s energy priorities to achieve the COP Consensus.

  • H.E. Dr Robert Habeck, Federal Minister for Economic Affairs and Climate Action, Germany
  • H.E. Alexandra Sdoukou, Deputy Minister of Environment and Energy, Hellenic Republic
  • H.E. Abdulla Balalaa, Assistant Minister of Foreign Affairs for Energy and Sustainability Affairs, United Arab Emirates
  • H.E. Eng. Sabah Mashaly, Deputy Minister of Electricity and Renewable Energy, Egypt
  • H.E. Ditte Juul Jørgensen, Director-General for Energy, European Commission

11:00 – 12:00

Garden Hall

High-Level Panel Discussion: Outlook on the benefits and energy relationships between Europe and the MENA region

While Europe will be dependent on energy imports to decarbonize its energy system, the MENA region is an incredibly resource-rich region with abundant renewable energy sources, like solar and wind. This holds huge potential for collaboration and mutual benefits. Moderated by Melinda Crane, this high-level panel will analyze how energy relationships between Europe and the MENA region can benefit both regions achieving their energy targets.

  • H.E. Theodoros Skylakakis, Minister of Environment and Energy, Hellenic Republic
  • H.E. Vladimir Malinov, Minister of Energy, Bulgaria
  • H.E. Stefan Wenzel, Parliamentary State Secretary, Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Action, Germany
  • H.E. Yossi Dayan, Director General, Minister of Energy and Infrastructure, Israel
  • H.E. Gert Jan Koopman, Director-General for Neighbourhood and Enlargement Negotiations, European Commission
  • H.E. Nasser Kamel, Secretary General, Union for the Mediterranean (UfM)

12:00 – 12:15

Garden Hall

Room Change (conference continues in two parallel sessions)

12:15 – 13:30

Grace Hall A

Program Sessions – Slot I (two sessions in parallel)

Session 1 – EU-MENA Electricity Interconnectors: Where do we stand?

Energy cooperation between countries from the MENA region and Europe holds the potential of increasing economic prosperity, reducing GHG emissions and securing a sustainable and affordable supply of renewable energy. However, the prerequisite for this is the availability of electricity interconnectors between the two regions. Moderated by Dr Karoline Steinbacher from Guidehouse, panelists will evaluate the status of the development of cross-border electricity infrastructure projects, identify potential gaps and define necessary actions for accelerated development of EU-MENA electricity interconnectors.

  • H.E. Eng. Sabah Mashaly, Deputy Minister of Electricity and Renewable Energy, Egypt
  • Belhassen Chiboub, Director-General, Ministry for Industry, Mines and Energy, Tunisia
  • Ioannis Tsakiris, Vice President, EIB
  • Manos Manousakis, CEO, IPTO
  • Stefan Kapferer, CEO, 50Hertz
  • Tarik Hamane, CEO, ONEE

Grace Hall C

Session 2 – EU-MENA Hydrogen Corridors: Status Quo and Outlook

Hydrogen and its derivatives pave the way for a successful energy system decarbonization. Building hydrogen value chains offers new opportunities for cooperation whilst ensuring energy system resilience, increased energy independence and security of supply. To enable the trade and transport of hydrogen, several initiatives for EU-MENA hydrogen corridors are already on the way. Drawing from the first-hand experiences of the panelists, moderator Prof Dr Theodoros Tsakiris from the Ministry of Energy and Environment of the Hellenic Republic will assess the progress made already and will identify necessary steps and approaches to accelerate cross-regional hydrogen infrastructure projects.

  • Stefano Venier, CEO, Snam
  • Belgin Rudack, CEO, KfW IPEX
  • Bart Jan Hoevers, President, ENTSO-G
  • Dr Susanna Zapreva, COO, Verbund
  • Dr Michalis Thomadakis, Director for Strategy and Development, DESFA
  • Dr Gunther Grathwohl, Head of Division, Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Action, Germany

13:30 – 14:45

The Lobby

Lunch Break

14:45 – 16:00

Grace Hall A

Program Sessions – Slot II (two sessions in parallel)

Session 3 – Financing Cross-Border EU-MENA Infrastructure

To ensure the successful implementation and timely development of cross-regional and cross-border infrastructure projects, a coordinated and effective mobilization of financing is essential. Financial mechanisms need to be developed to bridge existing financing gaps and reduce risk in a joint effort of the public and private sectors, public and commercial banks and network operators. Moderated by Matteo Fumerio, Team Leader – Energy Security, Directorate-General for Energy, European Commission, the panelists will discuss how this can be facilitated to substantiate the vision of increased energy interconnections between the MENA region and Europe. Reflecting on insights from the financial institutions, the panel will analyze existing financing mechanisms and necessary improvements to increase finance in cross-regional electricity interconnectors and hydrogen corridors.

  • Mary Burce Warlick, Deputy Executive Director, International Energy Agency
  • Maria-Rita Galli, CEO DESFA
  • Angelo Ferrante, Secretary General, Med-TSO
  • Ralph Bahke, Managing Director, Ontras
  • Dr Andrea Hauser, Department Head, KfW

Grace Hall C

Session 4 – Integrated Infrastructure Planning and Regulation across Regions

There are numerous examples of cross-regional infrastructure projects, both in the EU and in the MENA region, e.g., the hydrogen corridors in the frame of the European Hydrogen Backbone, ELMED, GREGY. Such interconnectors and hydrogen cor-ridors do not only require technical feasibility and commercial viability but also regulatory frameworks that support their implementation. During this session moderated by Dr Jauad El Kharraz from RCREEE, panelists will unfold main obstacles and lessons learned for planning and permitting procedures to accelerate cross-regional infrastructure, with a particular emphasis on how to integrate infrastructure planning for electricity and molecules.

  • H.E. Osama Mobarez, Secretary General, EMGF
  • Hasan Ozkoc, Director, Medreg
  • Damian Cortinas, CEO, ENTSO-E
  • Emanuela Menichetti, Director of the Renewable Energy and Electricity Division, OMEC
  • Prof Dr Mario Ragwitz, Director, Fraunhofer IEG

16:00 – 16:45

The Lobby

Coffee and Networking Break

16:45 – 18:00

Grace Hall A

Program Sessions – Slot III (two sessions in parallel)

Session 5 – Interconnections and Renewables Integration: Success Factors for the Energy Transition

With the COP28 Consensus in Dubai, the international community committed to tripling renewable energy capacities by 2030. While this critical role for renewables is being translated both in national and international energy transitions already, a technical, financial and regulatory framework is essential to allow for the successful integration of renewables in the energy system. Together with panelists, moderator Simon Benmarraze from IRENA will tackle the question, how to better integrate renewables through flexibility, demand-response and smart grids to facilitate the energy transition and create cross-border opportunities.

  • H.E Marios Panayides, Permanent Secretary of the Ministry for Energy, Commerce, and Industry, Cyprus
  • Ioannis Karydas, CEO, Renewables Sources and Energy Storage, Copelouzos Group
  • Tim Meyerjürgens, CEO, TenneT
  • Ioannis Margaris, Vice President, IPTO
  • Radia Sedaoui, Chief of Energy Section, UN ESCWA
  • Guido Guida, Head of International Affairs, Terna

Grace Hall C

Session 6 – Hydrogen Trade and Infrastructure: Accelerating exchange

Building hydrogen value chains offers new opportunity for cooperation besides electricity exports and is expected to become a mayor trade flow between the MENA region and the EU. While hydrogen exports become a new trade good for several countries in the MENA region, hydrogen imports are crucial for covering the import demand of European countries. However, enthusiasm for hydrogen develop-ment and trade has been faced with challenges. Assessing the insights and experiences of panelists at the interface between gas-producing and importing companies, with moderator Anne Jacobs-Schleithoff, Head of Division of the Federal Ministry of Economic Affairs and Climate Action of Germany, will investigate questions around challenges to accelerating hydrogen trade between the EU and MENA in infrastructure, coordination and offtake alignments and the potential for future development and the upscaling of hydrogen trade.

  • Hans-Joachim Polk, Member of the Executive Board, VNG
  • Dr. Egbert Laege, CEO, SEFE
  • Arno Büx, Chief Commercial Officer, Fluxys 
  • Samir Rachidi, Director General, IRESEN
  • Dr Karsten Schlageter, Managing Director, ABO Energy

18:00

The Garden

Networking Reception, Dinner and Drinks

20:15

Grand Hotel Palace

Departure of shuttle buses to our partner hotels

 
Speakers