The signature by 86 countries of the International Energy Forum (IEF) Charter took place yesterday, 22 February 2011, in Riyadh, along the Extraordinary IEF Ministerial Meeting. It is the concretisation of the process started in March 2010 at the 12th IEF Ministerial Meeting, the so-called Cancun Ministerial Declaration that was endorsed by 66 countries (see Declaration here). The Cancun Ministerial Declaration was mainly addressing two issues: the enhancement of the IEF framework to reinforce the producer-consumer dialogue, and the manner to reduce energy market volatility. The IEF Charter is the embodiment of the IEF framework called upon in the Cancun Ministerial Declaration. Energy market volatility is addressed within the IEA/IEF/OPEC cooperation programme, also referred to in the Cancun Ministerial Declaration. Among the activities of the cooperation programme count the organisation of joint events on physical and financial energy markets linkages that include energy market regulation, energy outlooks exercises, and market data transparency. Sum up of cooperation programme activities here)
The IEF Charter (full text here) sets on paper the purpose and functioning rules of the IEF, without being a legally binding instrument:
Purpose of the Forum (Section I):
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- 2. The Forum is an intergovernmental arrangement that serves as a neutral facilitator of informal, open, informed and continuing global energy dialogue among its membership of energy producing and energy consuming States, including transit States.
- 3. The Charter does not create any legally binding rights or obligations between or among its members.
- 4. Each Member State is committed to the global energy dialogue and, consistently with its domestic law and international obligations, participates in the Forum and endeavours, in good faith, to implement the Charter's terms and realize its objectives.
Fundamental aims of the Forum (Section II):
- a. fostering greater mutual understanding and awareness of common energy interests among its Members;
- b. promoting a better understanding of the benefits of stable and transparent energy markets for the health of the worl economy, the security of energy supply and demand, and the expansion of global trade and investment in energy resources and technology;
- c. identifying and promoting principles and guidelines that enhance energy market transparency, stability and sustainability;
- d. narrowing the differences among energy producing, consuming and transit Member States on global energy issues and promoting a fuller understanding of their interdependency and the benefits to be gained from cooperation through dialogue among them, as well as between them and energy related industries;
- e. promoting the study and exchange of views on the inter-relationshipis among energy, technology, environmental issues, economic growth and development;
- f. building confidence and trust through improved information sharing among States; and
- g. facilitating the collection, compilation and dissemination of data, information and analyses that contribute to greater market transparency, stability and sustainability.
In the Concluding Statement of the Meeting, parties declared that: "The IEF Charter marks a new era of international energy cooperation built on greater mutual understanding and trust, with a significant reinforced political commitment to an informal, open, informed and continuing global energy dialogue in the framework of the IEF among energy producing and energy consuming countries, including transit States."
The IEF is celebrating in 2011 twenty years of "producer-consumer dialogue" since its inception in 1991 in Paris.
Reference: Webpage of the event, IEF Website.
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