(EFE).- Representatives of the 27 countries that make up the Latin American Energy Organization, or Olade, underscored the need to promote sustainable development in the region at a meeting here Friday.

Olade Executive Secretary Fernando Cesar Ferreira said at the organization’s Meeting of Energy Ministers that “absolutely all the countries of Latin America and the Caribbean are doing something in terms of renewable energies,” which he said was at the heart of the sustainability drive.

He also stressed the importance of integration to ensure that the region’s countries are able to cope with global difficulties such as the drop in oil prices.

Ferreira noted, however, in his address that the region had the pending challenge of meeting the needs of millions of people who still lack access to electricity.

Ecuadorian Oil Minister Jose Icaza said in inaugurating the meeting that it would serve as a forum for the exchange of specialized knowledge and set a course of action in the region for sustainable development, integration and energy access.

The region is “abundant in natural resources” but there still are regions that are far removed from the progress and benefits of modernity, Icaza said. EFE