HARARE, Feb. 23 (Xinhua) -- The Southern African Development Community (SADC) Sustainable Energy Week kicked off on Monday in Zimbabwe's resort city of Victoria Falls, with calls to promote renewable energy and energy efficiency.

Running through Friday, the event, themed "Driving Regional Economic Growth through Clean Energy and Energy Efficiency," will bring together stakeholders in the energy sector, including regional institutions, government agencies, private sector players, academia, and development partners, to strengthen regional cooperation in the sector.

In his opening remarks, Zimbabwean Minister of Energy and Power Development July Moyo said there is a need for combined efforts to expand renewable energy in the southern African region.

"We need to strengthen our regulatory systems by synchronizing laws, tariffs, and the application of systems," Moyo said.

The region is grappling with the challenge of expanding renewable energy, he said, adding that both the public and private sectors have a major role to play in addressing it.

"Energy efficiency plays an important role in ensuring adequate supply to productive users of energy. Our machinery in industry, in mining, and across the entire economy must be energy efficient if we are going to realize the benefits of the available energy resources in our countries," Moyo added.

SADC is a regional economic community comprising 16 member states: Angola, Botswana, the Comoros, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Eswatini, Lesotho, Madagascar, Malawi, Mauritius, Mozambique, Namibia, Seychelles, South Africa, Tanzania, Zambia, and Zimbabwe. ■