The following communiqué was issued today by the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, the Secretariat General of the International Atomic Energy Agency, the Secretariat General of the International Energy Forum and the Secretariat General of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC): At the invitation of the Government of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, under the auspices of the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, ministers and representatives from many oil producing and consuming countries and observers from the oil industry in the world met in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, on Sunday June 22, 2008 to discuss the current situation of the petroleum market. The participants expressed concern over the sharp oil price rise and continuous volatility as a result of a combination of factors and reasons. They sought to identify the causes that led to the current price increases in the market and the outcome resulting from them and made a series of proposals designed to improve the current situation in order to enable the world oil markets work effectively. Participants also stressed that oil prices and the current state of instability and volatility in the market, do harm the global economy, particularly the least developed economies. They agreed that the current situation requires intensive efforts of all concerned parties in all the producing and consuming countries, oil industry sectors and other involved parties in order to achieve stability in the world oil market to the benefit of everyone. -- More
