Tonga's Energy Minister Hon. Poasi Tei in Beijing, China, recently thanked the Government of China for donating the 2.25 Megawatt wind power station in Tongatapu under the Belt and Road Initiatives.

He was among 29 energy ministers from around the world attending the inauguration of the Belt and Road Energy Partnership (BREP), by the Administrator of the Chinese National Energy Administration, HE Zhang Jianhua, on 25 April.

Coined by President Xi Jinping last year, BREP is an international energy cooperation platform, built for participating countries to collectively tackle challenges facing global energy development.

A statement issued this week by Tonga's Ministry responsible for energy stated that President Xi had stressed that energy cooperation has been a key field in jointly building the Belt and Road Initiative.

Tonga is one of the 29 global and growing membership of BREP, and the only representative from the Pacific and Hon. Poasi M. Tei was among the six Energy Ministers that were invited to address the BREP inauguration ceremony.

“Minister Tei thanked the Government of China for donating the 2.25 Megawatt wind power station in Tongatapu to generate more green and cheap electricity for local schools and households, as part of BREP and under the Belt and Road Initiatives. This wind power station will greatly contribute to Tonga’s ambitious 50 per cent renewable energy generation target by 2020.”

He was accompanied to this meeting by the CEO for Energy, Mr Paula Ma'u.

BREP was held during the Second Belt and Road Forum on International Cooperation (BRF19) with the theme ‘Belt and Road Cooperation: Shaping a Brighter Shared Future’, which was held from 25-27 April 2019 in Beijing.