Arne Walther, the Secretary General of the International Energy Forum (IEF) has hailed the great attention given by the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques, King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz to the forum, and underlined the importance of cooperation between oil producing and consuming countries. Addressing a press conference here on Friday evening, attended by a number of senior officials, Walther expressed happiness over the official inauguration of headquarters of International Energy Forum Secretariat (IEFS) and thanked King Abdullah for providing the forum's general secretariat with this beautiful building as well as for the meeting of the oil ministers and executive directors of the giant oil companies. Walther said the opening of IEFS testifies to the importance and potential of the producer-consumer dialogue in the International Energy Forum (IEF) at a time when oil prices and energy security are a major global concern. "This is a time for global energy dialogue to promote energy security and address the links between energy, environment and economic development in an increasingly interdependent world. "The IEF is a unique vehicle for international cooperation across traditional political, economic and energy policy dividing lines. Nowhere else do ministers of energy producing and consuming countries, of industrialized as well as developing countries, of the IEA and OPEC along with the increasingly important countries independent of these, meet in informal dialogue. This political dialogue also recognizes the importance of dialogue and partnerships between governments and industry itself. Ministers and CEOs interact in the International Energy Business Forum in conjunction with the biannual Ministerials. An important add-on is the opportunity that these ministerials provide for a network of bilateral meetings," he said. --MORE 1318 Local Time 1018 GMT
