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VII. ENERGY RESOURCES:

In view of SIDS dependency on energy imports, energy conservation and the development of renewable sources of energy need to be encouraged. This chapter still contains three sets of brackets. The first is in the section on national action, which states that governments will promote the efficient use of energy and the development of environmentally sound energy resources and energy efficient technologies. The problem arose over the use of "appropriate economic instruments" to this end. Many developing countries felt that this language is too specific and that economic instruments are not necessarily the best approach for all SIDS.

The other two sets of brackets appear in the section on international action. Paragraph C(iii) on the transfer of energy technology was unacceptable to developed countries. Paragraph C(iv) "ensures" that international institutions and agencies incorporate efficiency and conservation into energy-sector-related training and assistance. Developed countries preferred the term "encourage," however, developing countries thought that this weakens the paragraph too much.