(MENAFN - Kuwait News Agency (KUNA)) Kuwait's Minister of Oil Hani Hussein on Tuesday stressed the importance of consolidating efforts of energy producing and consuming countries in order to guarantee saving and providing clean and secure energy to people around the world.
During his opening speech at the 13th International Energy Forum, Minister Hussein said, "We are proud of the fact that Kuwait is hosting this distinctive event which culminates 20 years of dialogue, and is considered the first since signing the forum's charter. We are pleased by this great participation of 600 figures that represent 76 countries, 15 international organizations, and 32 oil companies."
"The last 20 years have witnessed a remarkable development of dialogue between producers and consumers, in which the international energy forum had a prominent role in bringing points of view closer and creating a climate of joint understanding between producers and consumers on various energy issues," pointed out Hussein.
He added, "Those efforts were culminated by signing the forum's charter in Riyadh a year ago. Therefore, holding the 13th forum in Kuwait, which is the first since signing the forum's charter, is without any doubt an important step in the path of further documentation and consolidating of this dialogue." "The importance of this forum is highlighted by its coinciding with essential political and economic developments that influenced the stability pace of energy markets, oil prices, and global economy recovery," stressed the Minister of oil.
Minister Hussein explained, "Our interest in dialogue stems from the vital role of energy in all aspects of our daily life, as well as it is being the main engine for global economy. However, there are still unfortunately more than billions of people around the world who are deprived of energy. Also, it has become more difficult after what has been mentioned in the UN's report which said that population around the world will surpass nine billions in 2050 compared with seven billions in 2012, which would affect energy consumption."
"It is our responsibility to work on saving clean and secure energy, which requires consolidating efforts of consuming and producing countries to find appropriate economic resolutions in order to guarantee the well-being of humans wherever they were," he added.
Also, the minister of oil pointed out that "Under the framework of supporting energy and environment issues, His Highness the Amir has announced, during OPEC summit in Riyadh, Kuwait's donation of USD 150 million as a support to the program of financing scientific researches relative to energy, environment, and climate change." He said, "In Kuwait, as one of the main producers and exporters of oil, we are keen on insuring our supplies regularly to international markets with fair prices that are non-harmful to global economy.
Undoubtedly, we are all in front of a reality that requires us to engage in joint cooperation in order to guarantee a better future for our generations through investing in all types of energy and its sources on economic basis and without differentiation in light of increasing of global demand on energy."
In addition, Minister Hussein stressed that "Our vision in using oil wealth is through attaining sustainable development, which some of its main goals are guaranteeing a promising future for our people, attaining human and economic development, building humans and improve their professional and educational capabilities. At the same time, working on protecting environment and reducing of climate changes."
Furthermore, he noted that "Kuwait believes that cooperation that is based on joint interests is the right way to create real partnerships that are not only between producing and consuming countries, but also between national and international oil companies, which has the knowledge and techniques in developing oil and gas industry. From this point, we affirm importance of strengthen dialogue between these companies, which would contribute in saving new and clean energy sources to meet with the world's growing needs for this energy."
"We are facing big challenges; resolutions could be difficult, but not impossible. Therefore, since this forum includes elite of international experienced decision makers, we wish to take this opportunity to propose resolutions and mechanisms that would contribute in stabilizing energy markets and distribute an environment of trust that would boost cooperation between producing and consuming countries, as well as oil companies and scientific research centers for the good of all human-beings," he continued.
