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His Excellency Dr. Abdul Hussain bin Ali Mirza, Minister of Energy attended the 10th Arab Energy Conference. The conference was inaugurated by His Excellency Eng. Suhail bin Mohammed Al Mazrouei, Minister of Energy of the United Arab Emirates on Sunday, December 21 in the presence of a large number of Energy Ministers and the Organization of Arab Petroleum Exporting Countries (OAPEC) and other member from Arab countries. More than 400 delegates from Arab countries, including experts and heads of international energy sector institutions and organizations, participated.

H.E. Dr. Mirza and H.E. Eng. Ali bin Ibrahim Al Naimi, Minister of Energy, Saudi Arabia were among the Ministers who spoke at the conference on the first day.

The conference includes three panel discussions: ‘Current developments in the oil and natural gas markets and their implications for energy sector in the Arab world’, ‘The Arab energy investment outlook’ and ‘Energy, environment, and sustainable development’. The conference also includes four technical sessions titled ‘Arab and world energy resources: reality and expectations’, ‘Consumption and conservation of energy in the Arab countries’, ‘Arab electricity interconnection’ and Technological developments and their Implications for energy sector.

H.E. Dr. Mirza, in his speech, pointed out the role of the oil and gas sector in national economy. He also spoke about programs for sustainable development in the energy sector in Bahrain since the discovery of oil in the Kingdom in 1932, mentioning the Royal Decree issued in 2005 for the establishment of the National Oil and gas Authority (NOGA) as the competent authority to deal with all matters relating to oil and gas. The Minister spoke about Bahrain’s top oil sector investments, such as Refinery modernization project and Saudi-Bahrain pipeline project, which connects the oil fields in Saudi Arabia to Bahrain Refinery, which would considerably increase oil imports to Bahrain. He also pointed out the developments in the electricity and water sector and the government efforts and programs for further streamlining consumption and developing Bahrain’s energy sector.

The first session of the conference included opening statements by the Ministers and heads of delegations, who reviewed the energy situation in their respective countries. A number of dignitaries and professionals from various institutions and research centres from Arab countries as well as energy professionals and experts from regional and international organizations participated in the discussions.

The conference hopes to establish an Arab institutional framework to review oil and energy issues in order to develop a Pan-Arab perspective, coordinate relations among Arab institutions concerned with energy and development, harmonize energy policies with development issues, investigate present and future Arab energy requirements and the means of meeting them, identify and assess energy resources existing in the Arab countries, and to coordinate and enhance efforts towards developing these resources and evaluate the impact of international energy policies on the Arab countries.

The 1st Arab Energy Conference was held in March 1979 in Abu Dhabi, UAE under the slogan: ‘Arabs and energy issues’. The 9^th conference was held Doha, Qatar in May 2010. Held every four years, the Arab Energy Conference is a leading international Arab conference, which attracts many oil and gas sector leaders, professionals and experts.