The United State stands committed to supporting the Energy Sector in Papua New Guinea and through this partnership people can expect to benefit more from the sector in future. On June 4-5, The United States, through the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) sponsored a delegation of National Energy Authority (NEA) leaders from thirteen Pacific Island countries to participate in a USAID training for Office of the Pacific Energy Regulators Alliance (OPERA) members on best practices for economic regulation of the energy sector. This activity took place as part of the Asia Clean Energy Forum at Asian Development Bank headquarters in Manila. USAID Country Representative Nino Nadiradze reaffirmed USAID’s commitment to supporting the National Energy Authority, “The United States is committed to supporting the National Energy Authority in developing a robust enabling environment that will contribute to an efficient and sustainable investment climate in PNG’s energy sector.” The event brought together Pacific Island energy regulators who discussed the actions necessary to drive private investment in the energy sector. Other topics covered were consumer protection, ensuring the financial viability of utility operators, safety, regulating independent power producers, and introducing competition in power procurement. The training offered a platform for OPERA members to share common challenges faced by Pacific Island regulators and to learn from each other’s successes. The NEA delegation from Papua New Guinea was led by Managing Director Ronald Meketa. The PNG Energy Regulatory Partnership is an institutional strengthening program supporting the USAID-PNG Electrification Partnership (USAID-PEP) Activity which is a five-year partnership with the Government of PNG that contributes to PNG’s goal of connecting 70 percent of PNG’s population to electricity by 2030.