المؤتمر الاقتصادي السعودي العربي الأفريقي

[M128-02] · سمو وزير الطاقة (HRH the Minister of Energy) · التوقيت 00:01:32 · المؤتمر الاقتصادي السعودي العربي الأفريقي · 2023-11-09 · مشاهدة عند هذا التوقيت

Well, I'm very grateful for the opportunity, it’s always good to be with friends and certainly friends from Africa. I believe as was my friend and colleague, Mr. Al-Jadaan was saying that we're not foreigner when it comes to African issue. I would. I would also say one thing that maybe, it is a little bit not recognized by some of our visitors. I have to say that Africa will continue to be part of our social fabric. There are so many communities from all over the Africa of different nation, different tribes, different traits. They've been part of this Kingdom, the population of the Kingdom, good chunk of them have been fifth generation, fourth generation, third generation. We are, as I said we know the culture, we know even the language, we know the food, we know the habits, the traits. And we bond, because they were the messengers of Africa. I would even understand, we do understand African culture, African music, but more important we do understand Africa pains. It's pains that has been accumulating for so many decades. Some of it was inflicted by the virtue of colonization. Some of it was unfortunately self-inflicted. I belong to an institution that believes in the power and the energy of the Youth.

[M128-03] · سمو وزير الطاقة (HRH the Minister of Energy) · التوقيت 00:03:31 · المؤتمر الاقتصادي السعودي العربي الأفريقي · 2023-11-09 · مشاهدة عند هذا التوقيت

And as you have seen just now, I really don't have to work when I have people as good as Reema and her colleagues working on, not on behalf of the Energy Minister, and I would also politely say not even in behalf of the Saudi government, but they're working on behalf of the Saudi people, reaching out to these communities, understanding their problems, ensuring that they have the bigger picture of the root cause of these problems, and again deliver real solutions, instead of talking about what we could not do. The issue that is of paramount now to Africa is has to do with energy access. And if you take the subtitle below, it's about Energy Poverty, and worse it is about even Clean Cooking. Although people cannot sometimes comprehend what is this issue about this clean cooking, but I have quite a few statistics here. And I couldn't be the expert, but we're talking about millions of fatalities that takes place every year, as a result of having people to rely on most primitive way of cooking in.., especially in these contained places, where it is either death or illnesses. It's the amount of energy that people that have to spend to collect what they need to use for cooking. It's the amount of deforestation that happens on a daily basis for people to make, you know, ends meet in a way that it's hands-to-mouth situation.

[M128-04] · سمو وزير الطاقة (HRH the Minister of Energy) · التوقيت 00:05:36 · المؤتمر الاقتصادي السعودي العربي الأفريقي · 2023-11-09 · مشاهدة عند هذا التوقيت

It's all the calamitous impact that it makes on a society, on a country, on biodiversity, and also in maintaining forestry. I don't want to go on, but you just saw a sample of a passionate people that are working in this cause, I would say noble cause. But the more we discover how much communities that are impacted with it, the more our resilience develops to ensure that we will not only be part of the solution, we will be the model to create that solution. And we shall never leave Africa alone in attending to this issue

[M128-06] · سمو وزير الطاقة (HRH the Minister of Energy) · التوقيت 00:06:49 · المؤتمر الاقتصادي السعودي العربي الأفريقي · 2023-11-09 · مشاهدة عند هذا التوقيت

Well. as I said you know, in Africa we have few countries that are energy if you could call it independent, but it looks they are energy-independent. But actually in reality if you go inside, the choice is do we export? or do we utilize? Now, if you utilize, you run a big risk that you're losing a source of income, that source of income is so crucial for people to continue their development, schemes and programs. So, the choice is harsh between ensuring people have energy access and between ensuring that you have sufficient amount of income. I don't want to name names, but we have few countries that are part of OPEC PLUS. They're African countries, important countries. And I would argue that they all even have the same choice. We have it, you know, I'll give you an example with Nigeria, for example your native country. Again, we're working with our friend with Nigeria, we're working with our friend in Congo, because we know that the choices are harsh, and the demand is even bigger. So, in a way, although it looks that energy poverty or energy excess has to do with probably indigenous production of energy, it is not true.

[M128-07] · سمو وزير الطاقة (HRH the Minister of Energy) · التوقيت 00:08:31 · المؤتمر الاقتصادي السعودي العربي الأفريقي · 2023-11-09 · مشاهدة عند هذا التوقيت

It is actually the millions of people that to reach them with.. with some sort of energy that is also not compressive, because if you want to reach out to all communities in, for example, in Nigeria, you'll have to stretch pipelines, you'll have to stretch transmission lines. And these are extremely expensive for a country like Nigeria to take the job to attend to.

[M128-09] · سمو وزير الطاقة (HRH the Minister of Energy) · التوقيت 00:09:38 · المؤتمر الاقتصادي السعودي العربي الأفريقي · 2023-11-09 · مشاهدة عند هذا التوقيت

Well, No I did say that in India, in the Ministerial of the G20 in Gawa, because I remember that discussion was about Climate Change, and Climate Change… and Climate Change which is relevant and important. But again, I felt at that day overwhelmed by the fact that people while set climate change is crucial important, but it should not be attended to by crushing the bones and the future of the less-empowered people. So, I had to go out of my way by saying if you really want to reach out to something that is truly moral, I think people need to be satisfied to the idea... with the idea that they have energy access.

[M128-10] · سمو وزير الطاقة (HRH the Minister of Energy) · التوقيت 00:10:35 · المؤتمر الاقتصادي السعودي العربي الأفريقي · 2023-11-09 · مشاهدة عند هذا التوقيت

One of the things that people don't sometimes avoid thinking about is that when you have a modern energy system, or access to modern energy system, your abilities become much more multiplied. And I'll give you an example, we hosted three weeks ago or four weeks ago the MENA Climate Week, and we had a special day on this issue of energy access and energy poverty and clean cooking. And I spent 15 minutes on the issue. In fact, we've worked with our Ministry of Health and Ministry of Telecommunication that we can also combine electricity provision with e-learning or e-education whatever they call it or even health, because I did say and I'm not shy at all to say it. In fact, I'm proud for the fact that I have so many African friends which would really impose on me to say: amongst these 2.2 billion people who have 0 2.3, now I'm being corrected actually have no meaning way or meaningful way of clean cooking, talking about energy poverty 800 billion. I still have my 800 million people. I still have my quarrel with these numbers. In fact, I am known for our friends here in this country that I' the most cynical person this country has produced, which is fine.

[M128-11] · سمو وزير الطاقة (HRH the Minister of Energy) · التوقيت 00:12:27 · المؤتمر الاقتصادي السعودي العربي الأفريقي · 2023-11-09 · مشاهدة عند هذا التوقيت

But I would argue who did the head count, and I don't believe that the UN had spent a lot of time counting those who have. But again, it is a guesstimate. I would argue, and I'm not saying it out of being polite, but I truly believe in that, if you look both at those who haven't got an energy access in Africa, for example, or are suffering from energy poverty, or suffering from illnesses and deadly illnesses of not to be having ability to have a clean cooking practices which would save their life. If you lookif you can do the IQ test for those millions, I'm willing to venture to say about myself, I don't want to include others, that I would run a risk that 60 to 70% of those people would have a better IQ than mine. And the question is why we sit on our hands, do nothing about this population. Even if you are a moralist, or a mercantilist, whichever way you go or an opportunist bringing this huge amount of population to a different economical prosperity is actually an economical propeller for the world economy.

[M128-12] · سمو وزير الطاقة (HRH the Minister of Energy) · التوقيت 00:14:06 · المؤتمر الاقتصادي السعودي العربي الأفريقي · 2023-11-09 · مشاهدة عند هذا التوقيت

So, be it whatever, if you are a moralist, you would have to see the point that there are people in millions that are dying every year. If you are a mercantilist or an opportunist, bringing this billion or millions and billions to a some future improvement, where they can go up the economic ladder. You stand to actually create a better and much prosperous world economy, simply because people in Africa and the economies of Africa, need to grow, the people of Africa need to prosper. If that these two things happen, the world economy will grow, and there will be even a rebelling effect coming out of that.

[M128-14] · سمو وزير الطاقة (HRH the Minister of Energy) · التوقيت 00:15:31 · المؤتمر الاقتصادي السعودي العربي الأفريقي · 2023-11-09 · مشاهدة عند هذا التوقيت

Well, we as again, I couldn't be much better than Reema and her colleagues explaining that thing. And by the way, we have outside a good number of our team that will be here all day long to explain it. We have signed with quite few countries, as I said, including Nigeria, Ghana, Madagascar, Rwanda, Kenya. We want to continue signing up with every country that are suffering from this issue. It's all, as I was explained, this part of the Middle East Green initiative. The Middle East Green initiative is the creation of His Royal Highness, The Crown Prince, Prime Minister Prince Mohammed. He feels so extremely passionate about it. And actually we unlike what you have seen, or I will remind our friends from Africa, remember the green fund. I mean still the jury is still about 100 billion, where some people claim that 83 billion Dollars of it was spent, while a lot people.. a lot of people argue that it's only 22 billion over the last - I don't know, God knows - 15 years we have now an issue with regard to loss and damage and the jury is still out. Again, there is talk of a fund that may emerge, but that emergency of that fund may be created within the context of the World Bank, where they would use the so-called three which is by the way 70% of the money if it's collected and voluntary which would be consumed by the World Bank for administrative cost and what have you.

[M128-15] · سمو وزير الطاقة (HRH the Minister of Energy) · التوقيت 00:17:36 · المؤتمر الاقتصادي السعودي العربي الأفريقي · 2023-11-09 · مشاهدة عند هذا التوقيت

But again this is the kind of jargon that people are familiar with in Africa. Lots of promises without being deliverables. I ask so many of our colleagues in Africa have you received anything of that climate fund? I have yet to see somebody who say I felt it, or I saw it, or so more important the impact of it. Because of that, we're choosing a different approach as Saudi Arabia, as Mr. Al-Jadaan was saying a while ago, we have our own tools, we have our own organization, we want to do it bilaterally, we want to make sure that we become accountable for what we promise, and we want to see the deliverables of what we have promised.

[M128-16] · سمو وزير الطاقة (HRH the Minister of Energy) · التوقيت 00:18:26 · المؤتمر الاقتصادي السعودي العربي الأفريقي · 2023-11-09 · مشاهدة عند هذا التوقيت

There is nothing much better than doing it directly, instead of the going through the illusions of the so-called international efforts that really go down the drain without people having it, touching it, feeling it. There is also that other part of it. You know, if you want to show in our religion, if you want to show your compassion, you reach out to the people. You don't stay in your stall and ask people to come to you. This is not the right way to do it.

[M128-17] · سمو وزير الطاقة (HRH the Minister of Energy) · التوقيت 00:18:26 · المؤتمر الاقتصادي السعودي العربي الأفريقي · 2023-11-09 · مشاهدة عند هذا التوقيت

There is nothing much better than doing it directly, instead of the going through the illusions of the so-called international efforts that really go down the drain without people having it, touching it, feeling it. There is also that other part of it. You know, if you want to show in our religion, if you want to show your compassion, you reach out to the people. You don't stay in your stall and ask people to come to you. This is not the right way to do it.

[M128-18] · سمو وزير الطاقة (HRH the Minister of Energy) · التوقيت 00:19:18 · المؤتمر الاقتصادي السعودي العربي الأفريقي · 2023-11-09 · مشاهدة عند هذا التوقيت

We have been implementing, we will continue implementing. I'm not in liberty to share few of the things that will be announced today, tomorrow, and maybe at the other summit when it is put together. But as a society, as Saudis, we as I said again we do not run out of compassion. And what we do, we do it as you have seen a sample as Reema. She's a dedicated young Saudi, she's one amongst many. We are lucky as Saudi Arabia. Now, we don't talk about band of brothers, but actually we talk about band of sisters and brothers. And you will see them floating around everywhere in Africa and we shall deliver.