The Global Commerce Forum

• Introduction and Overview
• Stating the problem of fossil – fuel based economic development
• Expenditures on retooling the energy infrastructure for a cleaner environment
• Expenditures by developing and emerging countries on oil imports
• How Natural Gas and Renewable energy can synergize to be the foundation of sustainable economic growth.
• How can Africa be used as a model and why

This panel will present a detailed overview of natural gas reserves in Africa, trends in natural gas exploration, and technologies, basic geology and production, trade volumes, and how natural gas is a sound foundation for sustainable economic development and growth. Discussions will cover centralized systems including the advantages of natural gas over other fossil fuels.

This session will focus on appropriate technologies in the clean energy space such as smart grid in emerging and developing nations, solar, wind, bio – fuels, hydro, geothermal, and energy efficiency. Decentralized energy systems including applications to rural lighting and power, cooking technologies, communication, utility/industrial scale renewable implementation and marketing challenges will also be discussed.

Key Note Speaker # 2

This panel will discuss how energy from natural gas and renewable sources can complement each other to form a solid basis for economic development. A combination of the two sources of energy can provide access to energy in urban and rural areas. The panel will also review how natural gas and renewable based energy systems can be integrated into existing energy infrastructures.

This panel will present real case studies of projects that are either in progress or have already been successfully implemented.

This unique networking opportunity complements the conference and encourages you to have deeper discussions with those who peak your interests under a relaxed atmosphere.

The panel will present the challenges pertaining to financing energy projects in developing and emerging regions particularly Africa. The varying energy policies, existing institutions, human capital development and other issues that impede implementing projects in Africa and how to navigate through them will be discussed including the business opportunities that these challenges bring.

In this session, actual projects in the clean energy space and the impact they have on the population in a developing country will be discussed. Case Studies will be presented by experts who are currently engaged in actual projects in developing countries. Social entrepreneurs working on social enterprises and NGO’s executing projects are the presenters in this session.

Key Note Speaker # 4

This panel will examine the investment flows to Africa from other countries such as the United States, China and Japan including the European Union countries focusing on their foreign policy towards Africa and the changes that need to be made to accelerate sustainable economic development in Africa.

This panel will discuss the lessons learned from the conference discussions including the challenges of implementing the projects, marketing natural gas and renewable energy products and how to engage investors and governments. Finally, the next steps will be discussed.