Around 40 members of the National Advisory Committee (NAC) met on 26 May in the Marie Schlei Room at the Berlin office of the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ). The meeting was hosted by the German Federal Ministry of the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety (BMU) and BMZ.

After the opening address by the chairmen Michael Hofmann, Head of Division at BMZ, and Rainer Hinrichs-Rahlwes, Head of Division at BMU, the members successively explained the expectations they have of next year's conference.

Participants are clearly determined to ensure that the conference goes beyond what was discussed and adopted at the World Summit in Johannesburg in September 2002. There was a consensus that the conference should result in stronger commitments and actions from governments and other stakeholder to expand the role of renewable energies.

In addition, participants agreed on the importance of best practices being presented at the conference, and emphasised that progressive countries should be given an opportunity to share the positive experiences they have had with the use of renewable energy.

There was general agreement that issues relating to climate protection and development should be discussed jointly. Even if renewables 2004 quite rightly focuses heavily on renewable energies, it was agreed that the topic of energy efficiency should not be neglected either. "Climate protection requires the symbiosis of renewable energies and energy efficiency," as one member aptly put it.

Many of the institutions represented offered to provide support in the run-up to the conference: Not only have they planned various events on renewable energies, which they aim to link in, where appropriate, to preparations for the conference; they also offered to make use of their contacts and networks in Germany and abroad in order to seek support for renewables 2004.

The chairmen accepted this offer and thanked everyone for the constructive discussion. They said that by the National Conference Support Committee's second meeting, which is scheduled for the beginning of December 2003, the organisers aim to have developed and presented a more specific roadmap for activities leading up to the conference in Bonn.