Mauritania and U.S. hold the Second Dialogue Session on Energy
Nouakchott
The Minister of Energy and Petroleum, Mohamed Ould Khaled and the Minister of Mines and Industry, Thiam Tidjani, held on Thursday in Nouakchott, via videoconference, the second session of the bilateral energy dialogue with the U.S. Deputy Assistant Secretary of State Kimberly Harrington, and a high-level delegation from the US government.
The dialogue sessions between the Ministries of Energy, Petroleum, Mines and Industry were also held with representatives from the US Embassy in Nouakchott, as well as representatives of the private sectors of the two countries.
The two sides reviewed the bilateral cooperation achieved since the first dialogue in 2022, including the signing of a memorandum of understanding for clean energy cooperation, signed during the COP28 climate conference in Dubai, and the technical-economic analysis document under implementation by NREL for the production of carbon-free iron and steel, the Mauritanian energy sector training program organized in Nouakchott in April 2024, the trade mission organized by the US Embassy to the 2024 OTC in Houston, and the technical agreement on mining governance signed between the two countries on the sidelines of the Minerals Indaba conference.
During the sessions, the Mauritanian Minister of Energy and Petroleum presented Mauritania’s energy vision, needs, goals, objectives, future projects, and recent regulatory and institutional improvements that have been made in order to achieve energy transition goals.
He added that the Government of Mauritania’s integrated energy vision is centered on the optimal exploitation of the country’s significant renewable and extractive resources, adding that Mauritania is committed to investing these resources in a responsible manner that ensures universal access to cleaner, more efficient and sustainable energy and contributes to the creation of national wealth.
For their part, representatives of the United States government valued the existing cooperation with Mauritania in the field of energy and minerals, and provided information on technical aspects in the field of electricity, as well as updates on the proposed program to support Mauritania’s potential to exploit available mineral reserves.
Both parties emphasized their desire to increase bilateral trade links in the energy and minerals sector at the public and private levels.
A second session was dedicated to discuss the promising opportunities in Mauritania and ways to overcome obstacles facing investments such as access to low-risk financing, infrastructure development, technical capacity building and competency training.