Energy Reformation
Sierra Leone’s Ambassador to Russia,Russian Energy Experts Pay Courtesy Call on Energy Minister, Explore Avenues of Investment in the Energy Sector
By:Austine Luseni
Communications Specialist
Ministry of Energy
Contact: 077377042/034157390
Conference Room,Ministry of Energy,Freetown,Thursday October 28,2021————- Sierra Leone’s Ambassador to Russia, H.E. Mohamed Yongawo,together with a team of Russian energy experts,has paid a courtesy call on Minister of Energy, Alhaji Kanja Sesay with a view to exploring opportunities or avenues for investment in Sierra Leone’s rich energy and infrastructural potentials.
Introducing and presenting the Russian experts, Ambassador Yongawo said the team comprised accomplished experts in different areas of energy,adding that after spending almost a week in Sierra Leone ,the team could not be more impressed or captivated by the country’s rich energy and infrastructural investment potentials.
Ambassador Yongawo informed the Minister that one of the members of the team in Dr. Konstantin Anastasiadi is the Chairman of the Moscow Chamber of Commerce,noting that the Moscow Chamber of Commerce is the conduit through which most businesses in Russia operate.
He said President Julius Maada Bio had on a visit to Russia in 2019 extended an invitation to the institution,but that initial plans of the Chamber to visit Sierra Leone were scuppered by the global Covid-19 disease.
Ambassador Yongawo said Dr. Konstantin Anastasiadi and his team had visited Sierra Leone on three occasions before the advent of the New Direction administration,but that they were not accorded the type of reception they needed to invest. He said it therefore took him time and persuasive skills to irresistibly lure the team back to Sierra Leone.
Head of delegation, Dr. Anastasiadi, thanked the Minister of Energy for the warm reception accorded his team,adding that his last visit to Sierra Leone came in 2017. He said Sierra Leone was in need of serious investments in particularly the area of energy.
He concluded by identifying potential areas of Russia’s intervention in the energy sector in Sierra Leone,including but not limited to hydroelectricity,solar energy,thermal generation,metering,transmission and distribution and oil refinery.
In his remarks,Energy Minister,Alhaji Kanja Sesay, thanked Ambassador Yongawo for creating such an opportunity for him to meet with the team,adding that he was always convinced that there was so much Sierra Leone could gain from Russia with specific reference to energy.
Alhaji Kanja Sesay said that the Government of Sierra Leone was gradually but inexorably transitioning to renewable energy. He said the energy access rate in the country posed a grave concern to him as a Minister of Energy,stressing therefore,that more needed to be done in the area.
He said his Ministry had a list of priority projects which he would present to the team,noting that there were huge investment potentials in the hydro and solar energy. He stated that he was looking forward to the transfer of technology from Russia to particularly help curb the burdensome issue of electricity theft which continues to adversely affect the operations of the country’s grid utility.
Alhaji Kanja Sesay concluded by assuring the visitors that his Ministry was always ready and willing to cooperate with the team once specific areas of intervention were identified.
The energy sector reforms continue.
