Rabat – Morocco’s Abderrahim El Hafidi chaired yesterday the 53rd meeting of the Board of Directors of the Arab Electricity Union, that saw the participation of general managers of Arab electricity companies.
El Hafidi is the director general of Morocco’s National Office of Electricity and Drinking Water (ONEE), president of the Arab Electricity Union.
The virtual meeting was set to take place in April, but the union postponed it due to the spread of COVID-19.
ONEE suggested at the group’s meeting in January the modernization of structures and mechanisms of the union to put up with the “profound mutations” of the sector of electricity, according to a September 10 ONEE press release. El Hafidi urged the move on the national, regional, and international levels.
Based on the output of a special working group tasked with evaluating such steps, the meeting on Wednesday saw a reform in the regulations of the Arab Electricity Union, the structure of the union, as well as the review of job descriptions for the secretary general, experts, and employees. The reform aims to define a new development model.
Members developed a charter to determine the missions and work of the electricity union’s committees.
Thanks to its achievements under the presidency of Morocco, the Arab Electricity Union managed to succeed in its objectives to develop a new model to face the global challenges that the “profound changes” in the electricity sector imposed.
In addition to his role with the Arab Electricity Union, El Hafidi will assume leadership of the Board of Directors of the Global Sustainable Electricity Partnership (GSEP) in 2021.
By assuming the role of president of the alliance, the Moroccan official will oversee leading electricians in their efforts to advance sustainable development across the globe.
This makes ONEE the only entity from an African and Arab country in GSEP, which includes international companies such as EDF-France, ENEL-Italy, AEP-USA, SGCC-China, Kensai Electric Power-Japan, Hydro-Quebec-Canada, and RusHydro-Russia.
