2017.24.03 Meeting with Mr. Atsushi Masuda, Marketing Executive, Global Business Operation and Mr. Ashok Kamra, Marketing Executive, Global Business Operation from Toshiba Corporation.

Meeting with Mr. Atsushi Masuda, Marketing Executive, Global Business Operation and Mr. Ashok Kamra, Marketing Executive, Global Business Operation from Toshiba Corporation. 

March 24, 2017: Mr. Atsushi Masuda, Marketing Executive, Global Business Operation and Mr. Ashok Kamra, Marketing Executive, Global Business Operation from Toshiba Corporation Energy Systems & Solutions Company met with the Minister Counsellor Dr. Bashir Mohabbat, the First Secretary of Political Affairs Mr. Basir Ahmad Hamdard and Ms. Namie Imanishi at the Embassy of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan. Mr. Hamdard set up the meeting when he attended at the Deployment of Innovative Energy Technologies and Solutions Workshop and Field Visit in Tokyo.

During the meeting, they discussed Toshiba’s current involvement in global projects, which entails advanced technologies and services to generate, transmit and store clean energy all around the world. Toshiba has three mega factories in India, of which their transformer factory is regarded the biggest in the world, manufacturing 900 to 1,000 transformers per day and exporting to 60 countries.

 In Afghanistan, the area of interest is to supply water in remote parts of the country. Toshiba has already an autonomous energy supply system called “H2One”, which could be deployed in Afghanistan.  H2One is a hydrogen power generator, which will ensure 24-hour hot water, and electricity. The system can be easily multiplied and set up according to different needs. This system was adopted in Fukushima Prefecture after the 2011 Tohoku Earthquake to accommodate electricity and water supply during the process of recovery in the region. The standard size of the “H2One” system is 60kW, a capacity of three of them (180kW) would be able to accommodate 200~300 people with electricity.  The cost of each one of them would be about $2.5 million.

They also talked about the possibility of direct and/or indirect investment from Japan or collaboration project between Japan and India to Afghanistan. Mr. Masuda and Mr. Kamra promised to work closely with Afghanistan and to return to the embassy for future meetings. Mr. Hamdard also promise to send the softcopy of all the plan energy foreign direct investment documents received by his Excellency Mr. Amanullah Ghalib Deputy Minister of Energy in Afghanistan.

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2017.02.03 Minister Councilor Dr. Bashir Mohabbat and First Secretary of Political Affairs Mr. Basir Ahmad Hamdard at Deployment of Innovative Energy Technologies and Solutions Workshop and Field Visit

Minister Councilor Dr. Bashir Mohabbat and First Secretary of Political Affairs Mr. Basir Ahmad Hamdard at Deployment of Innovative Energy Technologies and Solutions Workshop and Field Visit

March 2 2017: Minister Councilor Dr. Bashir Mohabbat and First Secretary of Political Affairs Mr. Basir Ahmad Hamdard attended Deployment of Innovative Energy Technologies and Solutions Workshop and Field Visit hosted by the Asian Development Bank with support from Asia Solar Energy Forum and Regional Task Force of Japan, China New Energy International Alliance held in Hotel Okura Tokyo in Minato-ku.

The workshop set out to identify the potential technologies that are best suited for developing member countries, such as distributed renewable energy systems, mini grids, battery storage, and power demand response.

Dr. Mohabbat attended the morning program starting from 9:30 am. The workshop started with an opening remark from Mr. Takashi Matsuo of the Japanese representative office from the Asian Development Bank. After that, Mr. Yongping Zhai technical advisor of the Asian Development Bank gave a keynote speech.

After the opening speeches, the guest speakers section started, beginning with Mr. Katsushi Takehiro the director of Global Strategy for Energy Industry, International Affairs Division, Agency of Natural Resources and Energy from Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI), talking about Japan’s support on quality of energy infrastructure development in developing countries. Second speaker was Mr. Hirokazu Yamaguchi director general of the Innovation Task Team from Tokyo Electric Power Holding Company (TEPCO) discussing innovation technologies and solutions in the energy sector. Followed by Mr. Takuya Odajima director of Global Business Division from Fujitsu.

Mr. Hamdard joined Dr. Mohabbat for the second part of the seminar, Mr. Hamdard joined. The second part started with Mr. Shingo Ono assistant manager from Fuji Electric discussing electric grid stabilization technology for renewable energy. Followed by Mr. Zhengrong Shi, guru of Solar PV and founder of Suntech along with Mr. Akihide Ariyoshi president of Nihon Jyutaku Service Co. The last guest speaker was Mr. Shiguo Zhang, vice chairmen and secretary general of China New Energy International Alliance debating the renewable energy developments in China and the “One Belt One Road” opportunities and challenges.

Succeeding a brief break, the discussion section started, debating following topics: Identifying the potential technologies to be applied to developing member countries, identifying the barriers hampering deployment of these technologies before finally discussing solutions to break these barriers. The facilitator was Mr. Yongping Zhai from the Asian Development Bank and the panelist were: Mr Amanullah Ghalib Deputy Minister of Energy from Ministry of Energy and Water in Afghanistan, Mr. Mohammad Bazlur Rahman joint secretary of Power Division from Ministry of Power, Energy and Mineral Resources of Bangladesh, Mr. Ram Prased Dhital Executive Director of Alternative Energy Promotion Centre from the Ministry of Population and Environment of Nepal as well as Members of Regional Task Force, Asian Development Bank Staff and Members of China’s New Energy International Alliance (CNEIA). The workshop ended with a closing statement from Mr. Yongping Zhai.

After the workshop, Mr. Hamdard met with a lot of different people among them Toshiba’s Marketing Executive for Global Business Operation Mr. Ashok Kamra, Mr. Wang Zhiyao Dept. General Manager of Beijing Hengju Chemical Group Corporation Henan Hengju New Energy Corporation and Mr. Naoki Sakai Senior Climate Change Specialist of Energy Division South Asia Department from the Asian Development Bank. They discussed energy projects in Afghanistan and agree to visit the embassy to further lay out a plan to address the much needed energy demand in the country. Mr. Sakai will visit the Embassy of Afghanistan here in Tokyo on March 14th.

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