Theme Of The Talk
As a region, South Asia consists of developing economies which homes a large share of population which is growing steadily. With limited domestic energy resources, the region has been suffering from acute energy crisis. India, being the largest economy in South Asia, has an energy import dependency of over eighty-four percent. Major share of energy imports, particularly crude oil, to the region is from West Asia.With increasing geo-political tensions in the West Asian periphery, the South Asian countries are concerned with the alarming developments. Apart from this, regional energy cooperation efforts had begun in 2005 creating the SAARC Energy Centre. Even though, there are political differences between the members, this energy cooperation could be a means to achieve peace in the region. One of the biggest challenges of the region is the non-availability of energy in requisite volume at affordable prices. However, it is the need of the hour to work towards achieving sustainable energy security collaborating with energy rich regions of West Asia, Central Asia and Africa.
About The Speaker
Dr Bhupendra Kumar Singh is currently the Head and Director, Energy Security at Confederation of Indian Industries(CII), New Delhi. He has a PhD from the Centre for West Asian Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi. He is the first person in India to submit a PhD on India’s Energy Security. Apart from this, he has an MBA in Oil and Gas from University of Petroleum and Energy Studies, Dehradun. He has also served as a full time Consultant (Energy Security), Ministry of External Affairs, Government of India. He has also worked on various projects pertaining to energy and has published many research papers in peer-reviewed journals and chapters in books.
