The Ministerial Symposium held on the sidelines of the forthcoming OPEC summit continued its deliberations here tonight. Two sessions were held this evening with Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Energy and Industry of Qatar Abdullah bin Hamad Al-Atiyyah and Iraq's Minister of Petroleum Hussein Al-Shihristani presiding over them respectively. Issues discussed during the two sessions were the outcome of the earth summit held in Reo de Janeiro in 1992 and its role in sustainable development, the relation between energy and development and elimination of poverty, growing world's need for fossil fuel, shortage of alternative energy, oil supply and price stability, OPEC's ability to keep the market balanced, aspects affecting oil price and reasons for price hikes, and the role of information flow and availability in fixing the price. Speaking at the two sessions were Minister of Petroleum of Angola Desiderio Da Costa; OPEC's Secretary General Abdullah bin Salim Al-Badri; Director General of OPEC's Fund for International Development Sulaiman Al-Harbash; the senior analyst at APICORP Ali Al-Esawe; UAE Minister of Energy Mohammed bin Dha'en Al-Hamli; Cambridge Energy Research Associate Chairman Dr. Daniel Yergen; OPEC's former Secretary General Francisco Parra.
