Andrés Rebolledo Smitmans assumes the position of OLACDE’s Executive Secretary

• The Chilean economist was elected as Executive Secretary of OLACDE at the LII Meeting of Energy Ministers of Latin America and the Caribbean, held in December 2022.
• Rebolledo will succeed Uruguayan engineer Alfonso Blanco, who held the position of Executive Secretary for two consecutive terms.

March 1 , 2023, Quito, Ecuador. The Chilean economist and former Minister of Energy during Michelle Bachelet’s administration in Chile, took office as the new Executive Secretary of The Latin American and Caribbean Energy Organization (OLACDE) for the 2023-2025 period, with “solidarity, justice and regional integration” as the guidelines for his administration.   “Our region’s agenda continues to be the development agenda: economic growth and inequality reduction are our imperatives. More integrated economies, more efficient markets, greater investment and employment are objectives of all governments in the region.  The current international context full of threats also presents opportunities for Latin America and the Caribbean. It is a region greatly privileged by its wealth of natural resources, a leader in the incorporation of renewable energy sources, with a high degree of complementarity between our countries, and an appreciable endowment of human capital and institutional capacities,” said OLACDE’s new Executive Secretary during the inauguration ceremony held at the emblematic cultural space “La Capilla del Hombre,” an initiative of the renowned Ecuadorian painter Oswaldo Guayasamín.   The new secretary presented his management plan focused on supporting regional integration in a pragmatic and concrete manner, promoting energy security, strengthening the region’s energy-climate agenda and accompanying energy transitions, promoting innovation and technological change, and intensifying actions to improve inclusion.   “We will seek to multiply cooperation between the countries of Latin America and the Caribbean, support energy integration projects in the region, establish an institutional dialogue with the private sector and strengthen the organization’s structure,” he said.   Rebolledo considers it “essential for OLACDE to renew its activism in order to promote regional agreements to mitigate risks and optimize the opportunities of the countries’ energy complementarity.”   The new Executive Secretary stated the need for OLACDE’s decisive participation in the global energy debate as the bearer of “a clear and strong voice for Latin America and the Caribbean.”   During the next three years, work will focus on strategic pillars such as Energy Complementarity and Regional Integration; Technical Cooperation; Energy Security, Access and Equity; Energy Transitions, Carbon Neutrality, Innovation, Technological Changes and New Energies, among others.   Rebolledo, has a relevant professional career of more than 30 years in which it stands out his performance as Minister of Energy of Chile in the period 2016-2018 and President of the National Petroleum Company of Chile, Vice Minister of International Economic Relations of Chile, Ambassador in Uruguay, Representative to ALADI and consultant to the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB). It is worth noting that during his term as Minister of Energy in Chile, Andrés Rebolledo implemented an important transformation of the Chilean energy sector with the massive incorporation of non-conventional renewable energies, working together with all the relevant stakeholders in the sector, which also allowed the development of a regulatory framework to promote electromobility and introduce technologies and energy sources not explored in the country, such as green hydrogen.   Communications and Institutional Relations Department gabriela.jarrin@OLACDE.org