What does GENI hope to accomplish at the United Nations Millennium Summit, Sept 6-9, 2000?

Secretary General Kofi Annan has called for all world leaders to convene in New York to discuss the role of the United Nations to meet the challenges of the 21st Century. This gathering is expected to be the largest ever meeting of Presidents and Prime Ministers. Through a series of consultations, the overall theme is "The United Nations in the 21st Century" with four sub-topics:

1. Peace, security and disarmament
2. Development, including poverty eradication
3. Human rights
4. Strengthening the United Nations
   

For the past decade, the Global Energy Network Institute (GENI) has been conducting research and education into the global strategy of interconnecting electric power networks between countries and continents, with the emphasis on tapping the abundant renewable energy potential of the planet. In 1971 the United Nations Natural Resource Council advocated a similar plan to provide the essential electrical needs of a growing world in an environmentally sustainable manner. Unfortunately, the Cold War politics of that time put this strategy on the back burner.

Today, several factors have made this strategy for peace and sustainable development feasible and desirable. Over the past year, US Secretary of Energy Bill Richardson hosted summit meetings with his fellow energy ministers from Latin America (July '99 New Orleans), Africa (December '99 Tucson) and Asia-Pacific region (April 2000, San Diego). The summary communique at each meeting highlighted the importance of energy integration between nations and the need to speed the development of clean energy resources.

GENI participated fully at each summit by proposing our initiative to all Energy Ministers prior to the meeting, and by exhibiting on site to all international delegations. Similarly, GENI has contacted all UN Ambassadors and Staff, Presidents and Prime Ministers and world media over the past two months. Our goal was to inform them of this strategy, invite their thorough investigation and hopefully get their commitment to champion this while in New York. We want to put the idea of "linking renewable resources around the world" onto the global agenda while all the leaders are gathered in one place.