Minister of Energy and Mineral Resources Eng. Hala Zwati stressed on Wednesday the importance of coordinating private sector efforts in the field of renewable energy to support sustainable production projects and create more jobs in different governorates.

During a meeting organized by EDAMA for Energy, Water and Environment, representatives of companies working in the renewable energy sector and developers of direct supply projects working in the various governorates of the Kingdom stressed that the Ministry will not be negligent in the issue of non-compliance with local employment in the sector.

Minister Zawati called on the companies operating in the sector to address their role in the framework of social responsibility and engage in sustainable and productive economic projects that serve the local communities and contribute to generating employment, training and empowerment of young people that will affect their economic situation and improve their standard of living.

Minister Zawati also called on companies to benefit from the social responsibility unit in the Ministry of Renewable Energy Fund to coordinate the efforts of the public and private sectors to deal with the issue, stressing the importance of creating more jobs in the private sector, especially in light of the influx of the public sector and its inability to expand employment.

Zawati explained that the Renewable Energy Fund operates in accordance with a special system that facilitates the work of the CSR in framing the efforts of the companies operating in the sector and assembling small initiatives to mobilize efforts and finance large projects that are productive and sustainable through which to contribute to the challenge of unemployment.

In this regard, the commitment of the community responsibility unit to find projects benefiting the children of the provinces, especially those that embrace renewable energy projects.

Minister Zawati praised the efforts of the EDAMA organization to make this step a success. She said that the meeting was an indication of the importance of the role of the organization and the business associations in the renewable energy sector in shaping the partnership between the public and private sectors.

For his part, Chairman of the Board of Directors of EDAMA Dr. Duraid Mahasneh stressed the need to adopt practical steps and a time frame to enforce specific decisions to expand the creation of more employment opportunities.

He added that social responsibility contributes to the protection of the investor and creates a climate conducive to the expansion of investments "in a healthy manner." This trend is achieved through uniting the efforts of the public and private sectors to reach the target groups and create more job opportunities as a national necessity and duty.

In turn, the representative of the National Construction Council in the Ministry of Public Works and Housing Jamal Qutishat urged companies to abide by the employment system stipulated in the law of the Council, noting that the Council addressed companies in this regard and limited employment opportunities in the renewable energy sector.

Participants agreed on the need to work and urged steps to institutionalize the mechanism for funding community responsibility programs through a community empowerment fund and the operation of unemployed community workers.