Over 100 energy leaders from 39 countries, including 9 energy ministers, met on April 20 at the World Energy Leaders’ Summit in Turkey. The event, held at the Ciragan Palace Kempinski, was opened by Turkey’s Minister of Energy and Natural Resources, Taner Yildiz, and the Chairman of the World Energy Council (WEC), Pierre Gadonneix.
The focus of the day was to enable the WEC’s community of global energy leaders to engage in an on-going, high-level dialogue to address the critical issues affecting the energy world. Topics during the day explored how to best address the energy policy trilemma (trade-offs between energy security, social equity and environmental impact mitigation), the transition of natural gas markets and implications on geopolitics, financing issues for a low-carbon infrastructure, as well as energy storage. The Turkish government also used the event to sign a $20-billion international energy arrangement with a consortium from Candu Energy and EÜAS.
The World Energy Leaders’ Summit in Istanbul provided the occasion for JK Kim, President and CEO of KEPCO, the South Korean electric utility, to officially renew the company’s partnership with the WEC for the third consecutive year. KEPCO has been a long-standing supporter of the WEC Korean Member Committee and it will be the host sponsor of the WEC’s 2013 World Energy Congress in Daegu, South Korea. KEPCO’s President and CEO is also serving as Chair of the Daegu Congress organizing committee. One of the WEC’s next events will be the World Energy Leaders’ Summit in India in February 2013.
Summing up the day, Christoph Frei, Secretary General of the World Energy Council, said: “Today less than 1% of pension fund investment finds its way into energy projects. It’s obvious that getting the energy trilemma right in national energy policies will be the only way to secure the investment required for our future energy needs. The investment community that participates in these events with our energy leadership community create a positive dialogue process to remove the barriers holding this investment back.”
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